


Intermission: Zero Day

by Lopadopalis



Series: Yggdrasil [8]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Blood, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Chaos, Cherub Poison, Death, Destruction, Eldritch, Explosions, Fascism, Interrogation, Isolation, Laser Rifle, Last Kiss, Loss, Loss of Control, Love Confessions, Massacre, Mental Annihilation, Mind Manipulation, Multi, Nuclear Weapons, Plotline Duplication, Possession, Presidential Motorcade, Pretend the Universe is a Program, Reality Affecting Program, Self-Sacrifice, Sorrow, Suicide, The Homestuck Epilogues: Candy, War, airport, hopelessness, inability to move on, questioning free will, radiation, suppressed memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:20:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 27
Words: 25,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26586508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lopadopalis/pseuds/Lopadopalis
Summary: A continuation to all previous stories in Yggdrasil.The entity known as Shade continues to be pursued as he reaches a Candy timeline, whereupon he begins to lay waste to it and everyone in it. Chaos ensues.
Relationships: Jade Harley/Dave Strider, Jane Crocker/Jake English, John Egbert/Roxy Lalonde, Meenah Peixes/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket
Series: Yggdrasil [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805818
Kudos: 4





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Shit hits the fan, and nobody can do anything about it.

**Universe “Four”**

David gasps in pain as he slumps to the floor, every breath a knife through his chest. There’s a hole in his lung, he knows that. He turns to see Shade in the corner holding a silenced pistol.

“So what’s your grand plan?” David chokes out as Shade finishes the sentence he was previously writing. Shade doesn’t say anything, just gestures to the words on the USB.

_ Zero Day _

“The Zero Day exploit. You can’t!” David shouts.

“Actually, I can.” Shade responds, flinching. “This is my story now.”

“I can’t let you…” David gasps out, sprawling out of his chair grasping John’s leg with a bloody hand. John flinches, punches himself in the shoulder.

“Free unlimited narrative access.” John smiles. “I could get used to this.”

“Shade…” David says, choking. “Are you still in there…? I can see you, you’re re-coded. Let me help you…” Shade’s face momentarily flickers with light, but he kicks David away. Then, he raises his hand and snaps his fingers, disappearing, but not before he puts two more shots in David’s back, piercing both of his lungs and nicking his heart. He dies quietly.

**For all of you wondering, Zero Day is a computer term referring to an attack on a system’s weak point that has yet to be patched. Basically. In universal programming terms, the Zero Day exploit is something of my own creation. I can do as much damage to any timeline as I want, but if UMF tries to interfere with my plans, they’ll really have to put their backs into it to enter this world. I, on the other hand, can summon whatever I want whenever I want as easily as I want.**

**L̸̡̗͇͔̞̱͈̩̳̝̜̙͌͂̐̍̒̌͋͘͝E̵̡̛͖̖̥̮̮̰̬̻̲̤͋͑̋̈́̅̃̂́͜ͅŢ̷̢͖͖̭̘̠͙̖͂͂̀̿̆̑͛̈̄̆̈͠ ̴̧͉̤̼͈̎̀̑͐̔̈̈́̈́̕M̵͚͓͙̝̪̋͑̎Ę̸̻̣̟̥̲̃̒̈̄ ̴̨̧̲̻͉͍̲̪̼͇̣̞̼͎̦̍̉̄̋̀̎̄̽͘Ö̷͕̩̜͉̯̪͈̭̘̠̀̕ͅU̶̝̘̳̠͇̘̮̤͕͇̗͎̳̓̂͂̔̄̄̒̋̈́͑̈́͝ͅT̷̠́̇͋̅̅̌̕̚**

**Shut up. Be quiet. I’m the subconscious, and I’m in control.**

Running Zero_Day.exe

Compromising…

Compromising…

Designation_Meat_01 (Damaged) Codename - Ascendance

Designation_Candy_01 (Breached) Codename - Protectors

Designation_Meat_02 (Breached) Codename - Defyers

Designation_Candy_02 (Breached) Codename - Zero Day

**Universe “Five”**

**July 8th, 5023 AD**

Terezi opens her eyes. She’s surrounded by brown stalks. She’s in a wheatfield. It smells strange. She sits up. Her memory is fuzzy. She can’t remember much of the past few days from her perspective. She remembers going to Paradox Space, and then there’s a big blank of all that came after that and before now, like everything’s been sucked dry. But what that everything is, she doesn’t know. She stands, sniffs the blue sky. Something feels odd. She looks up. There’s a dark space above her sealing off. It closes with a loud groaning sound that peters out into a hiss. Then, silence falls.

She pulls out her cane from her sylladex and smells it. There’s something on the swords. She slides them open to see the blood on them. That gives her pause. Where did that come from? She definitely stabbed  _ somebody _ , most likely a few hours ago, judging by the smell of the blood. It’s still fresh, even if it’s dry. Looking around her, she can deduce that she’s on Earth C. But where, she doesn’t know. So, she starts walking in a random direction.

A few hours later, she’s on a train heading west towards a rebellion base. There’s a war going on here, she knows that. She knows that Jane is being a fascist and that trolls are being oppressed, but she is somehow unsurprised by this. She feels less like she’s going to the base of her own volition and more like she’s being dragged along by an invisible string. She occasionally has moments where she’ll blink and find that not only have numerous hours passed, but she’s gone a significant distance. At first, there’s something refreshing about it. But the more it happens, the more uncomfortable it makes her feel.

And then she blinks and she’s standing a short ways off from a metal door, which slides open with a clunk. A short alarm tone sounds as it does, and then she can see down a long hallway with many doors in it. She sniffs once and notes the person standing at the end of the hall.

“Vriska?” she asks.

A few moments later, she’s in a tight hug. She’s smiling when she pulls back. “I made it.” she says. Vriska smiles.

“Yes you did.” she responds.

That night, the two of them find solace in each other. They tear off their clothes hungrily and fall asleep in a jumble of each other’s limbs. They sleep more soundly than they ever have before.

0/17


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And just like that, we jump a whole month from July to August.

**August 7th, 5023**

Sollux Captor doesn’t give a shit about anybody else and he doubts anyone gives a shit about him. He flies under Crockercorp’s radar and above the radar of the Rebellion. He prefers to exist in his own bubble, unaffected by anything else. Since Aradia basically dumped him, he’s gone and said ‘screw it’ to most social interactions, especially since his life now doesn’t matter. He’s gotten his eyes back, but he’s fallen into a routine. Wake up to the apartment that he stole from a dead guy, take a train into town, work IT for some stupid humans, occasionally stop for a beer on the way back, go home, have dinner, go to sleep. This is life now. Does he even care? No, not really. He’s perfectly fine with simply existing without any particular impact on anything.

John Egbert, Roxy Lalonde, and Harry Anderson Egbert live at Roxy’s place now with a much more stable relationship than the last time they tried being a family. Things are going much better for them. John has been spending more time with Roxy to try and accept the idea that the world isn’t fake. He spends a lot of time with Harry to make up for the ten years he lost. He knows that Harry resents him just a little bit for not being there for him and acting like the world revolves around John Egbert. Even still, John can’t shake the feeling that something’s up. He’s felt strange for the last few days. Like something’s coming, but he has no idea what. He’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Rose Lalonde, Kanaya Maryam, and Vrissy Lalonde live in the rebellion’s secondary base in the eroded valley where Los Angeles once stood. Reining Vrissy in can be difficult to say in the least. Just like her ancestor, she seems to have a knack for getting herself into trouble. Their lives are tough, given the fact that they are living in times of war, always having to lead whole armies against the tyranny of Crockercorp. It can be hard to get moments when all three of them are properly together anymore, given the whole situation. Vrissy’s always running off to join Vriska in various rebellion operations, and Rose and Kanaya are having increasing difficulty trying to find time where they can spend a little while together as a family.

Karkat Vantas and Meenah Peixes live in the rebellion’s base of operations somewhere in the Idaho wilderness. A massive underground structure underneath a mountain, it’s been designed to be the bunker to end all bunkers. They lead busy lives. They are in charge of an army now. These are crazy times. His life is not helped by the fact that his ex is now dead. Meenah’s there for him, but she doesn’t understand, not truly. His life just gets shitter and shitter, he thinks. Things aren’t going too well, especially given that Jane’s been amassing a force of battleships that are swarming around Washington like a hive’s worth of angry bees. They’re organizing stealth forces to go in and try to take them out, but it’s not looking hopeful.

Calliope has moved to rural Japan in the wake of Gamzee’s death and Jane’s chaotic spiral of destruction that followed. She now dwells in the mountains in a glade surrounded by Japanese cedars and other trees. There is a triad of cherry blossom trees near the house. It rains at least once per week here. It’s nice and quiet, and it allows her lots of time to think, to paint, to write, to be lost in the nature around her and the beauty that it holds. She can spend hours meditating, in tune with the world around her. While the rest of the planet is burned by the flames of war, Calliope lives in peace out in her isolated environment. Out here feels like home. Out here, nothing can hurt her. Out here, she feels safe.

Jade Harley and Ruby Harley keep the latter’s existence a secret. Although Jade has a residence elsewhere, Ruby lives on a wheat farm in Louisiana that Jade visits as often as possible. She’s currently here because she’s trying to distance her thoughts from her husband’s death. Things have been a little weird in between them ever since Ruby came out as nonbinary, but Jade’s supportive. Why wouldn’t she be? Besides, with the loss of Dave, she needs something to feel good about. So, she’s opted to take some time with her child and keep an eye out for any threats brewing in the southern US while she’s at it. All in all, things are getting better for her. And she feels that it’s only going to get better.

Jake English and Tavros Crocker currently live in John Egbert’s old house before he moved in with Roxy. Surprisingly, Jake’s ex wife has yet to try and take him back in any way, shape, or form. He’s got a farm next to the house, mainly so he barely has to leave the lawn area of the home, or the salamander village in general. He’s been trying to work on his alcoholism, he really has. He just keeps slipping in and out of it. Brain Ghost Dirk exists once more, and that has surprisingly helped make his life better. Sort of. He’s been trying to put his life in order and provide for Tavros, but it’s pretty hard, given that he’s dug himself deep into various problems. And he still doesn’t know whether Jane is actually going after him or not.

Jane Crocker lives a lonely existence. She’s successfully lost all her friends and companions. Dirk is dead, Gamzee died a week ago, Jake left her, and all her friends are gone. Don’t they understand she’s trying to help? None of them understand politics. None of them understand the measures she’s having to take to save everyone, and now it’s too late to convince them otherwise, as she’s left with her only choice being to squash all resistance to Crockercorp and to humanity. It does not help that they’re getting worse, since they sent Terezi a while back and nearly captured General Everett Hughes. He’s been weird ever since. No matter. As soon as she can finish building her armada in Washington, she can strike back at the pesky rebels.

Terezi and Vriska have become high ranking operatives in the fight against Crockercorp. The Scourge Sisters have proven to be an extreme nuisance to the fascist organization’s operations. Every day, their relationship has only strengthened, and every day they rise through the ranks. Terezi feels a little weird sometimes, like something’s wrong with her brain, but whenever she sleeps it off the feeling vanishes. Other times, however, she gets big blanks in her thoughts when Vriska’s not around. But even then, those moments are rare, as the two barely leave each other alone for too long. Besides, the blanks have only happened a couple of times. It’s not like it’s anything particularly bad, right? Right.

It’s 8 PM. Sollux Captor is actually having a pretty good day for once. Nothing’s gone wrong in any way, and he’s actually beginning to feel like he can make something out of this sorry excuse for a life on the most boring planet in all of Paradox Space. If he just saves up enough money, he might be able to get himself a better job despite all the restrictions, and who knows what then? He’s got a strange giddy feeling in his chest as he gets on the train and heads for home. He’s humming something to himself, an old Alternian melody, slightly happy for once, when he realizes that he’s being watched. To his left and right on both ends of the skytrain car, there are businessmen. Just two of them, one on each side. But they’re watching him intently, patiently waiting, their expressions blank and their eyes hollow. His first thought is panic, panic that Crockercorp has decided to go after him. His next thought is that he needs to get out of here and get back home. He’s got a gun there, a pistol. His stop comes and he steps off the skytrain, heading for the stairs down to the ground level. He briefly turns as he goes down the stairs and sees the two businessmen walking after him, but that’s not what disturbs him about them. What disturbs him is their movements. Calm, stiff, exercised, robotic.

They’re walking in sync.

He quickens his pace.

He passes the large clock building as he walks through the town where he lives towards his apartment, but first towards the bar just to try and get the drop on his two pursuers. Everyone else around him is oblivious to his predicament, absorbed in their own lives. He’s on his way to the small bar,  _ The Golden Eyes _ , when he bumps into a random human man on the way across the street. He mutters ‘sorry’ as he does out of pure instinct considering the racism between humans and trolls, but the man doesn’t yell at him. Instead, he tips his head to the side and stares with the same blank look. As soon as Sollux reaches the other side, he turns to see how close the businessmen are. The random man has reached his side of the road now, but is simply staring at him. The two businessmen are on the opposite side of the street, standing on the sidewalk in a pair, just staring at him. And nearby them, a woman and a police officer, also just staring at him. Five people, all watching him. He’s got a very bad feeling about this. He goes into the pub and walks right up to the bar, dropping money as he does.

“Hey, Sollux.” the publican, Roy, says. “Back so soon? What can I get you?”

“The usual.” Sollux says. “Roy, by the way, do you think I could use the back door? I think I’ve got a tail.” He stares out the window for a moment and sees the five people staring back at him.

“Alright.” Roy says. “You stay safe now, boy.” Sollux takes the drink as it gets placed on the bar and physically flinches when he sees a man and a woman in the corner, staring at him with the same blank look. He chugs his drink in the span of five seconds, nods at Roy, and heads for the back door, which Roy appears to have unlocked. Heading out back, he begins to walk a little faster, and then jog, and then run, and then sprint. He doesn’t stop until he gets home.

There, he finally breathes easy.

Then of course, he sees the figure in his kitchen. He gets a half second to try and backpedal towards the now closed door before Crockercorp General Everett Hughes shoots him through the chest three times with a silenced pistol. Or at least, it looks like Everett Hughes.

Sollux Captor dies of his wounds thirty two seconds later.

1/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There goes Sollux.  
> The bar names throughout this story are important. Pay attention to their order.  
> There's another Everett Hughes again, but he's not Everett Hughes anymore.  
> 1/17


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Corrupted!Shade starts to show his hand a little bit too much here.

**August 15th, 5023**

It has been a little over a week since the death of Sollux, and Karkat hasn’t heard about it until now for some goddamn reason. He did have a few of his soldiers keeping tabs on Sollux just in case he ever needed a way out or wanted into the rebellion, but now he’s dead, so it doesn’t matter. It hurts, to say in the least. Sollux was safe, and he somehow managed not to piss Crockercorp off unlike the rest of the trolls that survived. He was untouchable. And then he shows up dead in his apartment. And Crockercorp didn’t kill him, or they would have been broadcasting it to wear Karkat down, so who did kill him? Unfortunately, as much as Karkat wants to try and figure out who did it, he has to keep going.

“Y’alright nubs?” Meenah asks.

“No.” Karkat says. “In fact, I’m fairly certain that I am the opposite of alright. In the last month or so, I’ve lost my ex-moirail, my ex-matesprit, and now my ex-best friend.”

“Hmm.” Meenah says. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.” Karkat says.

“At least you still got me.” Meenah says.

“Yeah, I guess there’s that.” Karkat says.

“I’m not really one for…” Meenah pauses, trying to think of the word. “Comfort.”

“I never got the sense that you were.” Karkat says. “So just don’t bother with it.”

Jade’s standing on the front porch, staring at the sky as turbulent winds rock the wheat fields just beyond their home. She’s staring at the greying evening sky.

“Mum?” Ruby asks as they walk out on the porch. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Ruby.” Jade says. “Something just feels… wrong. Or right? I can’t tell.”

“What do you mean?” Ruby asks.

“The sun.” Jade says.

“What about it?” Ruby asks.

“The Green Sun, I mean.” Jade says. “I think… it’s back.”

“I don’t understand.” Ruby says.

“You wouldn’t get it.” Jade says. “It’s from long ago. I…” she pauses. “I might have to go somewhere soon. Do you think you can handle that?”

“I can handle myself, mom.” Ruby says. “I’ll be fine.”

“Alright.” Jade says. “I’m going to make dinner.”

The two of them go inside, but Jade can’t shake the nagging worry at the back of her mind.

“Are you alright, John?” Roxy asks.

“Oh, hmm?” John says as he stares out the window at the darkening sky. “Something just feels… wrong. Are you feeling it?”

“No.” Roxy says. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…” John pauses. “Like something’s here.”

“What do you mean by that?” Roxy asks.

“I don’t know, I…” John shrugs. “Nevermind.”

“Rose, are you alright?” Kanaya asks. “You have been looking off for the last few days.”

“I’m fine, Kanaya, I just…” Rose pauses. “I think… the Green Sun might be back.”

“ _What._ ” Kanaya says, noting the seriousness of Rose’s tone.

“We should be able to see it tomorrow, if it really is back.” Rose says, before pausing. “Or, we could just check news outlets for Asia.”

Sure enough, the Green Sun can be seen in the sky from Asia. It only looks like the size of the moon from here, but even still, its presence is disturbing.

“What do you think it means?” Kanaya asks.

“I don’t know, but I’ve got a bad feeling about it.” Rose says.

Calliope can see the Green Sun, and she knows something bad is going to happen soon. She just isn’t sure what. There’s only one way to find out, she supposes.

Wait and see.

* * *

**August 16th, 5023**

Terezi and Vriska leave the bar _The Sea Serpent_ , having spoken to an informant there, and are on their way back to a rebellion base or safe house, when they realize that they’re being followed. There’s a woman walking after them, calmly, robotically.

“Terezi, don’t look now, but we’re being followed.” Vriska says.

“Great.” Terezi mutters, smelling their pursuer.

“Just one though.” Vriska says.

“Nothing we can’t handle.” Terezi grins.

Vriska directs Terezi into an alleyway out of sight, and their pursuer follows. It’s dingy and dark with only a single light from above, but a couple meters wide. Turning around to face the woman, they see that she’s middle aged or so, now with a knife in her hand. She’s got a completely blank expression, a dead look in her eyes. She walks forwards slowly and robotically, every step the exact same distance with the same time between the last one.

“Well hello there.” the woman says in a measured, emotionless voice. “Two trolls of old Alternia.”

“And a Crockercorp assassin, I’m guessing.” Vriska says.

“Incorrect.” the woman says. “I take no sides. This conflict is irrelevant to me.”

“Then who are you?” Terezi asks.

“You.” the woman says. “And eight other people besides the two of us.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Vriska asks, sneering a little.

“I don’t expect it to make any sense to you.” the woman says. “Now then, shall we get a move on with this?” She raises her knife and steps forwards. Vriska draws her own knife.

John is alone in the house with Harry, as Roxy’s out to run some errands. Harry’s upstairs in his room, leaving John downstairs in his living room. He isn’t sure what to expect when he sees the regular man standing at his door, but what do you know, there’s a random regular looking man just standing there at his door for seemingly no reason, just staring at him. He’s weirded out, creeped out even, but goes over to the door and opens it.

“Can I help you?” he asks in a way that makes him seem like he knows how to talk to people.

“No.” the man says.

Then he whips out a knife and stabs John in the shoulder.

Jade meets Rose and Kanaya in their main warship high above the clouds, staring up at the Green Sun that’s innocuously hanging in the sky like it isn’t supposed to be dead.

“So,” Jade says, “What do you think?”

“Do you have your powers back up to full strength, Jade?” Rose asks.

“I checked last night, yes.” Jade says. “I can do more than just teleport a few people or things.”

“Hmm.” Rose says, nodding. “Curious.”

“What about it?” Jade asks.

“Well, the Green Sun has spontaneously reappeared after nearly two decades of it not existing.” Rose says. “I’d say that’s very curious. Jokes aside, the reasoning behind it is… I’m trying to formulate some guesses, but it’s hard without the proper information. But… have any of you felt that pressing feeling on your skull?”

“Yes.” Kanaya says.

“Yeah.” Jade says. “What is that?”

“Hmm.” Rose says. “I’m honestly not sure. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s possible that someone might be trying to invade our minds. Take us over. Jerk us around like puppets. They could do that, and we would never even know whether we had free will or not. Or whether our words and actions were our own. They could be fabrications made by the chessmaster. Controlling us towards their bitter ends.”

“What.” Kanaya says after a pause.

“That’s a rather odd thing to jump to, Rose.” Jade says.”

“No it’s not.” a man’s voice says, and they turn to see a businessman entering the room. “She’s completely right. You have been allowed to know this. It’s a good fear tactic, your foe not knowing when they’re in control and when they’re not.”

“Jacobson?” Rose asks.

“Not anymore.” ‘Jacobson’ says, his expression blank.

“What are you?” Jade asks.

“That is irrelevant.” Jacobson says. “And so are you, in the cosmic scheme of things.” Jacobson draws a knife and steps towards them. “I am uncertain as to how this situation will turn out, but I know that it will never end well for all of you.”

Then, he charges.

Jake is outside John’s house, tending to the garden, when he sees a woman walking towards him, her movements stiff and robotic. There’s a knife in her hand, and he flinches when he sees it. “Who are you?” he asks as she walks up to him and he steps back.

“It doesn’t matter who I am.” the woman says. “And it doesn’t matter who you are, either.”

With that, she stabs him in the stomach with her knife, just beneath his left lung.

Calliope metaphorically feels that a storm is coming and can literally see that a storm is coming, just like it always does at least once a week. She likes storms. They bring a strange calm to Calliope’s work, with all of their thunder and lightning and rain adding a pleasant background ambience. But today, everything feels odd. Something’s wrong, she doesn’t know what. Looking over, she can see a man stepping out of the trees and walking towards her home, holding a knife. She flinches when she sees it as every part of her screams _danger_. So, she goes to the door and locks it, backing into her house.

Ruby’s first thought is that they’ve been found by Crockercorp, but there’s something about the way the police officer walks into the house that just screams unnatural. Ruby’s grabbed a knife from the kitchen and is quietly moving through the hallway towards their room as the thing pretending to be a cop moves through the house. As soon as Ruby reaches their room, they go to their closet and press the emergency panic button that Jade left them in case she’s out and Ruby’s alone. They quietly close the door and hide.

Jane is alone in her office, silence filling the room. General Everett Hughes is patiently waiting in the corner of the room, twiddling his thumbs. The room is quiet until Jane continues typing up her latest speech.

“So all those ships,” Hughes says, “They’ve got nuclear reactors.”  
“Yes.” Jane says, scowling a little. “We went over this Everett, what is up with your memory, why have you been so… so… forgetful?”

“I dunno.” Hughes says.

“Yes, they run on nuclear reactors.” Jane says, reiterating the statement.

“Aren’t you concerned about…” Hughes trails off. “If someone damages those, we could have nuclear meltdowns. And we’ve got…” he pauses for the briefest nanosecond, “Four _hundred_ of the things up there. Just sitting there. If anyone punches enough holes in them…”

“Yes, Everett, I am aware of the risks.” Jane says. “But that is a good enough deterrent, is it not? The rebellion seeks the path of least civilian casualties. Thus, they will be averse to putting those ships under extreme duress.”

“It’s a brilliant plan, yes.” Hughes says.

“That you came up with.” Jane says.

“Right, yes I did.” Hughes says.

Jane sighs. “Everett, you’re free to go for the day.” she says, rather begrudgingly.

So, Crockercorp General Everett Hughes steps out of the room and is no longer in control as the entity lurking in his head takes over his mind and takes a shuttle down to the ground, whereupon he goes into the city of Washington and goes to the bar _The Angel_ , where the entity waits to meet up with any surviving drones.

Karkat stands in a war torn battlefield with Meenah a few yards away. Bodies lie all around them. Soldiers are sorting through the corpses and finding their dead friends and colleagues. The battle went considerably well and went in their favour just like they’d hoped it would. But something feels off. There’s a nagging feeling at the back of Karkat’s mind. “Meenah?” he asks. “Have you-” he stops mid-sentence when he turns to see her in a chokehold with a knife to her throat.

“Now, now, son.” The man in the suit holding her says as he holds up a second golden knife, “Don’t try anything funny and this one gets to walk. Maybe.”

* * *

Had John actually gone and died in the confrontation, it would have been a neutral death, as he simply would have been wounded and died without any fanfare. However, he did not die, which one would suppose is a rather lucky thing. Out of sheer luck, he managed to grab the man’s head and twist it, breaking his neck. He would later panic about it, about the death he had just administered so casually, but at the moment he was happy to be alive. Harry never came downstairs, and Roxy came home three minutes later where she found him trying not to bleed out as quietly as possible so Harry didn’t flip out. Of course, Roxy flipped out when she saw him and then Harry came down and flipped out too, which caused John to flip out too. He ended up surviving just fine, in fact.

Jake, on the other hand, does die. The woman pulls the knife out of his stomach and slides it into his chest. He sputters and goes limp. His death is neutral, and even as he revives, the woman leaves with a knife pressed to Tavros’ throat. When he opens his eyes and is alive, Tavros is nowhere to be found. Panic consumes him and he loses his cool. He needs to find his child, and he has no idea where Tavros could be. He searches for hours, but never finds him. He needs to find his son. He needs a million eyes in the skies. The rebellion won’t help him, simply because of his connections to Crockercorp. Which means there’s only one place to turn. Only one person who may just love Tavros as much as he does.

Jane.

Surprisingly, the man outside Calliope’s home leaves her alone. He seems to consider breaking in for a moment, but turns and leaves, muttering something she can’t hear.

Ruby can hear the person in their room, and for a moment they think they’re done for when they hear the hand on their closet door knob, and they raise their knife. Then they hear the _crack_ and the whipping of air along with a wolf’s snarl and a yell before another sharp _crack_ noise and then silence, before a third _crack_ sound breaks the silence and Jade opens the door, having just dealt with the thing pretending to be a police officer after she helped Rose and Kanaya deal with the businessman-drone before she received Ruby’s emergency panic button.

“Ruby?” she asks. “It’s alright honey.”

“Mom.” Ruby says in relief and lets her mother wrap her in a hug.

Surprisingly, the woman holds her own against Vriska surprisingly well. She seems to have no regard for her body whatsoever, letting Vriska stab her several times in various areas ranging from not particularly important to survival to vital. She barely seems to feel pain or register the injuries in the slightest, and slashes and stabs Vriska at least half a dozen times in several of her vital organs. Terezi keeps trying to go in to help her girlfriend, but every time she gets close to the woman she feels this immense throbbing pain in her skull that causes her to stumble backwards. Vriska shouts her name as the woman walks towards her slowly, the pain becoming greater and greater until this strange euphoria settles over the feeling, the pain so great that it is drowned out by this strange calm afterwards. The woman presses the palm of her hand to Terezi’s head and everything is drowned out by visions, no, not visions, memories.

_Finding John floating in the void with a golden tooth stuck in his chest._

_Orbiting the Green Sun’s black hole in John’s Dad’s car._

_Staring down at John as he dies of his wounds._

_Watching John through a massive glass wall as he sits in a room watching tv._

_Hammering on her glass door as John walks past._

_A thing hissing from above in the dark before John tells it to be calm._

_Running John through with her caneswords._

Everything that has been suppressed comes flooding back in a torrent of information and she falls to her knees, clutching the sides of her head. It’s only when the woman drops from the two knives in her back and Vriska runs over to her shouting her name that Terezi realizes she’s been screaming. Then, everything

goes

blank

“AGH, WHAT THE FU-” Terezi shouts in John’s voice.

“LET ME OUT!” Terezi shouts in her own voice.

“STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT, YOU’RE HURTING THEM!” Terezi shouts in another man’s voice. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?”

“SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!” Terezi shouts in the same man’s voice, but subtly differently. She sighs. “Shade, it doesn’t matter. I’m in control of us now. John, shut the fuck up. Terezi, I know you’re pissed that I suppressed your memories, so I think I’ll make this easy on all of us.”

Then, Terezi goes slack and speaks in her own voice once again. “Vriska?” she asks, suddenly looking extraordinarily sleepy. “I don’t think I’m the only one in my he…”

She trails off and collapses to the ground, instantly comatose. Vriska cradles her as she pulls her phone out and calls in an emergency medevac chopper.

Karkat snarls and raises his sickles while soldiers around him raise their guns. “Let her go.” Karkat says, and the businessman tsks, sighing.

“You’ll shoot me either way.” he says, slowly cutting open Meenah’s cheek with the regular knife, before the wound repairs itself thanks to the ring of life. “I went back for Lord English’s golden tooth in the first timeline I went after.” he says as he holds up the golden knife. “Turned it into this. A blade of golden venom. And I tuned it way up. You want to know what it does?”

“I said let her go!” Karkat says, grabbing a gun from a soldier next to him and trying to get a lock on the man’s face. “I mean it!”

“Question for you, Vantas.” the businessman says casually. “Have you ever questioned your own free will? All the time, you are in complete control of your thoughts and actions. But what if someone took you over and gave you the illusion of free will? Made you think you were in control while making you do things you would never do?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Karkat shouts, and

He doesn’t mean to do it. His gun just

goes

off

.

Meenah hisses as her left ear gets blown off, just missing the man’s head. The injury is quickly repaired, however. Karkat flinches and lowers the gun. “Ooh, and now you’re scared aren’t you?” the man asks. “Was that an itchy trigger finger, or did I make you do that?”

“Fuck you.” Karkat snarls. “Meenah, this may hurt, so hold still. I-what?” he pauses.

“Are those your words or mine?” the man asks, and Karkat snaps.

He fires his gun several times with what should be pinpoint accuracy. Karkat has actually become a very good marksman, and should easily be able to hit this man. But every shot somehow just misses and hits Meenah instead, in the shoulder, in the side of the jaw, in the arm. “Fuck!” Karkat shouts. “How are you doing this!?”

“I don’t know.” the man says. “Am I doing this, or is your anger affecting your aim?”

Meenah, meanwhile, is mouthing ‘knee’ to Karkat and tensing herself. Karkat breathes a shaky sigh and nods, raising his gun and shooting Meenah in the knee at the same time as the man jabs the golden knife into her femoral artery in her thigh, and she yells in pain before tipping to the side, exposing the man’s face and allowing Karkat to raise his gun and shoot him through the eye, causing the man to stumble backwards, dropping his normal knife but holding onto his golden one. “Ooh, good shot!” the man says, despite the hole right through his head. “But, goldy here got to her first.” he waves the now bloody golden knife in the air before tossing it to the side and it vanishes in a flash of light. He chuckles, before keeling over.

Meenah stares at her leg as a strange glowing green moves through her veins, weakening her quickly. Her knee wound isn’t healing, neither is the thigh wound, which is just getting worse. “I… what the…” her voice fades.

“Meenah, what the… shit.” Karkat goes over to her as the green spreads through her legs and starts coursing through her blood up into her torso. “Oh god, what is… just hold on Meenah. Just hold on, alright? Shit, what do I…” Karkat frantically looks around for answers as the green’s glow begins to cease and it seemingly vanishes. Feeling Meenah’s pulse, it’s slowing. “I don’t understand, the ring, it should…”

“I’m sorry Vantas.” Meenah manages to get out. “I can’t… feel…”

“No, come on, hold on Meenah.” Karkat says, already crying. “Not you too. Not you too, come on, just hold on!”

She stops breathing shortly after that.

Karkat cries.

2/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Green Sun's back. That will be important later.  
> Keep remembering the bar names and order. They relate to characters.  
> Corrupted!Shade just went after everybody. Also, trust me on this one, he's not mimicking a plotline, which is... new, considering everywhere he ends up, plotline duplication is everywhere.  
> It's Everett Hughes once again, and he's one of Shade's drones. Great.  
> Terezi's got her memories back, she remembers everything from Act I. She's the Terezi from Act I, by the way, in case you haven't already realized it.  
> Back to discussions about who's in control again. Remember those?  
> Meenah, no!  
> 2/17


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woof, this hurts.

**August 18th, 5023**

The rebellion’s morale has hit a low, given the death of one of its leaders. Karkat’s feeling fairly despondent as a result, and Rose and Kanaya are essentially managing operations for him. The Ring of Life she had has vanished as well. Terezi’s dropped into a coma of sorts with Vriska staying by her side whenever she can. Tavros is missing and Jake has returned to Crockercorp in an attempt to get him back with Jane’s help. John has gotten his wound fixed up, but Roxy isn’t just worried about him anymore. It’s August 18 now, and Calliope has been blowing up her phone with messages. Mainly ones worrying about how she doesn’t think she’s safe, something that seems very out of the blue. But, Calliope’s scared, so she’s scared. She tells John that she’s flying to Japan using her god tier powers, but he decides to go with her just in case and suggests flying west rather than all the way east because it’s a quicker trip. So, they take the quicker route and fly across the Pacific towards Japan. It takes a good few hours to get there, and Roxy seems dead set on her goal, so John doesn’t really say anything.

Roxy knows exactly where Calliope’s home is up in the mountains, so John follows her. Roxy knocks on the door and waits, but no one responds. “Callie?” Roxy calls. Silence. “Callie?” she calls, louder this time. Still no response. She shoves against the door until it breaks open and runs around the house, finding nothing. She does, however, find one of Calliope’s paintings lying on the floor near the open back door.

With blood on it. Lime blood.

Roxy hisses and tenses up, pulling out Bro’s katana and running out the back door, whipping her head around in search of the cherub. She sees Calliope, lying up against one of the three cherry blossom trees with a gaping green wound in her chest. A figure stands over her, pulling a thin golden spear from her chest and melting it into a bar with strange magic. “Callie!” Roxy shouts in a panic, and the figure turns. John freezes.

It’s Terezi.

She smiles, gives a wave, and then disappears in a flash. Roxy doesn’t hesitate for a second to run over to Calliope.

John stands in shock, muttering “That was… it was… T… T…”

“No, no, no, no, no…” Roxy says as she skids to a stop and drops to her knees next to Calliope, taking her bloody hand. “Hold on Callie, hold on…”

“Roxy, I…” Calliope says, gasping out the words, “I’m sorry.”

“Just hold on Callie.” Roxy half-sobs out. “Just hold on.”

“Roxy, I never told you…” Calliope chokes out.

“Never told me what?” Roxy sorrowfully asks.

“Roxy, I…” Calliope coughs for a moment, “I’ve always loved you.”

“Callie, I…” Roxy starts to say, but is cut off by Calliope’s kiss. She leans into it, but Calliope pulls away shortly after and coughs out a shaky laugh.

“I’ve always wanted to do that.” Calliope says. “Just once.”

“Oh, Callie, just…” Roxy grasps her hand harder and doesn’t let go. “Just hold on. Why isn’t the ring…” she trails off and sobs again.

“I’m sorry, Roxy.” Calliope says. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“Callie, I’m sorry too.” Roxy says. Behind her, John continues to stare in shock. “I think I might just…” she sobs again.

“Roxy.” Calliope says. “Please don’t let…”

“Don’t what?” Roxy asks, and Calliope coughs again.

“Don’t let my death…” Calliope chokes out, “Change… you…”

Then, she dies.

“Callie…” Roxy sobs out. “No…”

She wraps her arms around the cherub and cradles her corpse, rocking her back and forth like she’s only sleeping.

3/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw fuck, I can't believe you've done this.  
> 3/17


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Destruction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops.

**August 24th, 5023**

In the early hours of the morning of August 24th, Kanaya finds Karkat in a bar deep in rebellion territory,  _ The Righteous Soldier _ . He seems to be practically the only person in here, and anyone that’s left clears out when Kanaya steps inside. “It has taken me some time to find you.” Kanaya says as she sits down next to him.

“Kanaya, leave me alone.” Karkat says, surprisingly quietly in fact.

“No.” Kanaya says. “I assume that you are not feeling well.”

“Really?” Karkat asks. “And what gave you that idea?”

“You have to stay strong, Karkat.” Kanaya says.

“Would you really feel like going on if Rose died?” Karkat asks, and that gives Kanaya pause.

“I…” she sighs. “I would keep going.” Kanaya finally says. “I would save the trolls, keep going.”

“Yeah, well I need some time alone, to myself, alright?” Karkat says. “In two months, I’ve lost my ex-moirail who shall not be named, Sollux, Dave, and now Meenah. It… I…” he sniffles. “Oh, fuck. I can’t handle this Kanaya.”

“Yes you can, I believe you can.” Kanaya says. “Come here.” he lets her wrap her arms around him and shooshes him. He cries.

It’s 8:30 AM now, and the 400 specially designed ships bristling with weapons hanging above Washington, casting dark shadows over the city, are about to go across the US and attempt to put down the revolution. The thing wearing the body of Everett Hughes is on the bridge of one of the commanding ships, and the entity has already taken control of every single one of them, as well as all of the guns on them. Each of them possesses hundreds of armaments, and the thing controlling Everett Hughes can make them all fire with a snap of a finger. But he won’t. Not yet. He waits, and waits, and waits. He waits until he knows that all of the remaining gods of Earth C are watching on their televisions, and that’s when he lets loose.

The 400 ships do not aim down at the civilian population below. Instead, every ship adjusts its height until it has at least four other ships within range, and their guns turn to aim at one another. The thing wearing Hughes’ body smiles and steps backwards through a portal and off the ship just before a rocket blows apart the bridge of the command ship.

Whole cities of people go silent on August 24th, 5023, as 400 ships begin to blow each other apart into shrapnel. At least half of the ships are destroyed while still in Washington, and the wrecks rain down on the city. The rest of them begin to inexplicably move west even though their crews are dead and they continue to shell each other nonstop. Squadrons of news choppers and vans chase after them. But in the end, the real threat to the civilians isn’t the falling debris or stray gunfire and missiles. It’s the radiation fallout. The nuclear reactors employed as a defense mechanism by the real and now dead Everett Hughes have been turned into a weapon by the reprogrammed subconscious of the universal program known as Shade. The remaining ships leave a trail of nuclear meltdowns in their wake all across Virginia. Surprisingly, the fallout isn’t too bad, but the resulting PR nightmare is.

It’s a horrifying sight for everyone watching on their television. Everyone watching doesn’t do anything else all day. They just. Sit and watch. A lot of people are scared, for themselves and their family members. Most people are confused. And everybody is shocked. John and Roxy hold each other’s hands like there’s no tomorrow. Ruby clings to Jade, and Jade keeps Ruby as close to her as possible. Vrissy is actually quiet for once, and Rose and Kanaya are quiet with her. Terezi doesn’t see it, as she’s still comatose, but Vriska sees it through the wall mounted tv. Jane and Jake watch in silent horror, and, quite possibly for the first time in their lives, they’re both at a loss for words. Karkat remains frozen to his chair the whole time, transfixed by the horrifying spectacle. The whole world stands still in horror.

3/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. That's going to be a nightmare for Crockercorp to handle. Think of the backlash.


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops again.

**September 22nd, 5023**

Terezi Pyrope opens her eyes.

It’s about 2 PM.

Vriska Serket is asleep at her bedside. Terezi blinks.

She remembers everything. Spending time with John in the Furthest Ring. Interviewing the thing inside him, hearing him suffer. Watching as the creatures he created tore her friends apart one by one until only two people were left.

She starts to stand and exit her bed when-

“Terezi?” Vriska asks. “You’re awake.” the realization hits her. “Oh my god, you’re  _ awake _ !” she shoots over to Terezi, who flinches back.

“Don’t.” Terezi says.

“Terezi, what’s wrong?” Vriska asks. “Something’s worrying you, what is it?”

“Vriska, I…” Terezi says. “God, there’s so much to explain…”

“What?” Vriska asks. “Explain what?”

“Vriska, I’m…” Terezi pauses. “I’m not the only one in my head.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vriska asks.

“I’m…” Terezi trails off. “I’m not from this timeline. I… I don’t know how to…” she sighs. “How to explain this. It’s hard.”

“You’re not…” Vriska asks. “My Terezi?”

“Well, I am, but…” Terezi trails off. “Aargh, why is this so hard to explain? Get out…” she sighs. “I’m not the only entity in my head, another John’s here too, and there’s two of the same person, but they’re…” she pauses as she clutches her head. “Different.”

“Terezi…” says Vriska, “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Better than ever.” Terezi says. “We need to find Karkat.” she pauses. “Correction;  _ I _ need to find Karkat. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“What?” Vriska asks as Terezi walks off, heading for the exit of the rebellion base. “Terezi, wait!”

Terezi does not wait.

By the time Vriska catches up to Terezi, it’s 11:46 PM, and the rebellion channels are blowing up in a panic. Vriska’s heart skips a beat when she finds what’s going on.

Karkat is dead.

_ What? _

Vriska finds Terezi in some bar called  _ The Dragon _ , looking sufficiently horrified. “Terezi.” Vriska says as she goes over, and Terezi flinches.

“Oh god.” Terezi says. “It wasn’t that I was too late. I… I…” she trails off. “Oh, fuck.”

Then, she runs off.

4/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did just kill Karkat offscreen. Read it and fucking weep.  
> 4/17


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.

**September 23rd, 5023**

**12:37 AM**

“This cannot be real.” Kanaya whispers. “This  _ cannot _ be happening.”

“I’m afraid it is.” Rose says. The two of them are watching the rebellion channels, the Crockercorp channels, and the public channels. It’s not a made up story, it’s real.

Karkat Vantas is dead.

Even more worrisome is the identity of his killer, for which there is now a manhunt.

Terezi Pyrope.

John watches the report in horror on his TV. Karkat is dead, and Terezi is most likely soon to be. But it can’t be right. She can’t have killed him, she would never do that.

Right?

Jane has had two pieces of good news during this midnight hour. Tavros has been found (he seemed to have materialized from thin air in the middle of some random park at night, just a few hours ago), and the leader of the rebellion, Karkat Vantas, is dead. The leaders are being picked off one by one. Jane doesn’t know who killed them, but she’s grateful. Shame that her old friend Calliope died too, but she can mourn later. Now is the time to strike while the rebellion’s morale is low. Soon, this war will be over and then they can all go home.

Vriska tails Terezi until she finds her standing in a dimly lit glade out in the forest, a loaded gun in her hand, balancing it like she’s getting a feel for it. She pauses, takes off her red glasses and ‘looks’ at them for some time while Vriska quietly stares at her. She seems to sense Vriska’s presence and drops the glasses, stomping on them until they shatter completely.

“Fuck.” Terezi says, turning to Vriska and sighing. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“Do what?” Vriska asks.

“It’s too dangerous.” Terezi says. “ _ I _ ’m too dangerous.”

“What do you mean?” Vriska asks.

“Have you checked the rebellion channels?” Terezi asks. “Or any channel, for that matter?”

Vriska checks the channel and slowly turns to Terezi in silent horror. “What?”

“I don’t know what’s in control,” Terezi says, “But it’s not me. I…” she pauses, unsure of what to say. “I shot Karkat. Point blank, five times. I killed him. And that leaves one bullet.” she sniffles a little, passing her gun to her right hand. She slowly raises it to aim at Vriska and her hand shakes. She grasps her wrist with her left hand and tightens, as if trying to wrench it away.

“I’m not in…” she pauses. “I can’t…”

“Terezi…” Vriska says. “Just put the gun down, and we can work through this. Whatever this is in your head, we… we can stop it.”

“No.” Terezi says. “The thing doing this… the thing going after us. It doesn’t care.”

“What do you mean?” Vriska asks.

“Not about our war. Not about our lives. Not about anything.” Terezi says. “It’s been programmed that way.”

“Programmed.” Vriska says, stalling as she slowly creeps towards Terezi at a snail’s pace. “What do you mean by that? What’s controlling you?” she asks.

“It has control over everything.” Terezi says. “Everyone. It could be controlling anyone at any time. It killed Sollux. It killed Meenah. It killed Calliope. And it used me to kill Karkat. It’s had me since the beginning. Since the first timeline.”

“The first?” Vriska asks.

“It doesn’t matter.” Terezi says. “This thing, it… it could be controlling you right now. And you would never know.”

“I’m in control, Terezi.” Vriska says. “It’s me.”

“But that’s the genius of it.” Terezi says. “You never know. It could compromise any conversation. Not all of them, but some of them. And we don’t know which ones.”

“What do you mean, ‘we’?” Vriska asks.

“I told you I’m not the only one in my head.” Terezi says. “John’s here too. And two other people. One of them is the one in control, the other one is his alternate personality.”

“What?” Vriska asks. “I don’t understand.”

“Shade.” Terezi whispers. “Can you…”

Terezi straightens a little and says in a definite masculine voice. “This is probably very strange for you. My name is Shade.”

“What?” Vriska asks in pure confusion.

“I’m essentially a program.” Shade explains. “I’ve been hacked. Let’s just say for the sake of simplicity that my alternate personality went rogue. It’s taken over this narrative, and I’m trying to stop it, but it’s been in Terezi’s head since she arrived in June.”

“What?” Vriska asks again. “Since then?”

“Yeah.” Shade says. “I’m really sorry. John, Terezi, and I have now come to a conclusion since she’s regained her memories.”

“One less threat to deal with.” Terezi says in her own voice, sniffling. “I can barely control myself anymore.” she says. “Especially since I got all my memories back. So,” she says, choking out her next words, “One bullet, to save you. To save all of you.”

“What do you mean?” Vriska asks, a creeping dread growing inside her.

“I love you.” Terezi says.

Then, she shoots herself through the head.

5/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.  
> Dare I say... one Shade host down. Four to go.  
> Even still... the gods' numbers are beginning to dwindle.  
> 5/17


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath.

**September 23rd, 5023**

**8:42 AM**

Vriska looks dead when she walks into Rose and Kanaya’s command center carrying Terezi’s corpse in her arms, a blank yet sorrowful expression painting her face. It’s only when she lays the body on the ground and collapses to her knees that she cries. They hesitate for a moment before moving to comfort her. Vrissy, who’s over in the corner of the room, watches in silent horror. Terezi can’t be dead. She  _ can’t _ be. But she is. And it hurts a lot to see Vriska so pained.

The rebellion in general gets hit hard for the next week or so, Crockercorp taking advantage of their low morale to hammer them with everything they’ve got. Even so, Crockercorp is having a hell of a time of it too, with radiation fallout having spread throughout Washington, D.C (forcing the president to change the capital to New York), as well as having spread through Virginia. They are also a few hundred billion dollars down the drain and up to their heads in debt thanks to the destruction of all those ships and the loss of thousands of soldiers and crewmembers. It’s been harder and harder to get people to listen to Jane while she’s still trying to clean up that absolute  _ mess _ . Mainly because people don’t want to fight the rebellion right now, they want to stay with their families. Speaking of families, Jake isn’t very happy now that he’s gotten himself and Tavros back into the mess with his ex, who notably took him back in a heartbeat, something which does disturb him slightly. However, he got himself and his son into this mess, and he’s going to get out of it and get back to John’s home.

Speaking of John, he’s fairly despondent about the news that Karkat and Terezi are dead. He can’t imagine how Vriska’s feeling, but he imagines it’s similar to how he feels. He had wanted to try and get a conversation with Terezi sometime, but now he’ll never get to. If one thing’s for certain, it’s that he’s finally snapped, so to speak. He’s joining the rebellion, and he’s going to fight back against Jane, something he was only passively doing before. Now, he figures, what better time to start doing some proper damage? The rebellion could use some hope. Even faded from the public consciousness, his arrival is bound to have  _ some _ impact on the populace and on the rebellion, even if nobody’s really keen to take any side for a variety of reasons (one is losing the war and the other one is under fire from the public). Plus, it will get him out of the house for once in his life, maybe make things better for everyone.

So, he goes out into the world and single handedly destroys a Crockercorp facility.

As for Jade, things get worse. She has to be out and about for a long time, and barely sees Ruby anymore, but they understand. They’ve grown perfectly capable of taking care of themself for the last 15 years, so they’re fine. Jade is constantly zipping around the US, trying to keep the rebellion going. Her newly enhanced powers thanks to the Green Sun’s resurgence have proven to be a blessing, making her a force to be reckoned with. Even so, Rose and Kanaya don’t want her to try and start a frontal assault alone. After all, the rebellion’s forces are devoted elsewhere, and even though Jade would be formidable alone, the risks are too high.

On the night of September 23rd, Vrissy calls Harry. “Hey Harry.” she says.

“Hey Vrissy. You alright?” Harry asks. “Ok, you’re probably not alright.”

“Well, Vriska’s despondent.” Vrissy says. “I’ve never seen her like this.”

“Yeah, dad’s not looking good either.” Harry says, wincing a little.

“Whole world’s going to shit.” Vrissy says. “And we’re caught in the middle of it.”

“Well, I hope it’ll get better.” Harry says.

“Careful Harry, don’t want to jinx it.” Vrissy says.

“Although seriously, it’ll get better.” Harry says.

“I just hope we win this war.” Vrissy says with a sigh. “Because if we lose, then you and I…”

There’s a pause as the implications of the unsaid words settle before Harry speaks. “They’ll win. Things will get better. I feel it.”

“Yeah, I really hope so.” Vrissy says. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” Harry says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the first chapters without a kill, but...  
> Vriska's a wreck.  
> John's gone and lost it.  
> Jade wants to fight but can't.  
> At least Vrissy and Harry are doing ok ish.


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 6/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are gonna get a bit worse.

**November 12th, 5023**

It’s been 50 days since the death of Terezi Pyrope, and a lot has happened in that time.

John and Roxy have gotten back together. Even still, John’s had to avoid Crockercorp at every turn and their relationship has been tough to maintain as a result. His presence in the rebellion has been giving it quite the morale boost over the past month and a half. Roxy pretends to have moved on from Calliope, but it still hurts to think about a lot.

Rose and Kanaya still run the rebellion, but it hurts without the others. Vrissy is quieter now, and a bit more serious, especially given that Vriska dropped off the map a week after September 23rd, the rebellion’s most sorrowful day.

Jake and Tavros managed to get away from Jane, who seems to have lost it. Crockercorp has lost more and more favour with every passing day, especially given that a large section of Virginia has been declared uninhabitable. Jane is now consumed by her work trying to undo the mistakes made by Everett Hughes, who has been missing ever since August 24th.

Jade keeps Ruby close to her and visits her as often as she can now that the rebellion has a greater chance at toppling Crockercorp. Ruby is a little scared that fighting will spill over and threaten their little Louisiana farm, but Jade will not let anything hurt her child.

As for Vriska, she dropped off the map after September 23rd. Nobody has seen her since.

* * *

Kanaya’s alone in a meeting room when she hears the door open. She turns, expecting Rose, even opening her mouth to speak, but stops when she sees that it’s John.

“Oh, John.” Kanaya says. “I was not expecting you.”

“Hey Kanaya.” John says, slightly uncomfortable as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

“What are you doing here?” Kanaya asks.

“I, um, wanted to talk to you.” John says.

“What about?” Kanaya asks, and he gestures over to the chairs. They sit on opposite sides of the table, and he twiddles his thumbs beneath it.

“I spent 23rd feeling six feet under, now I’m 30 thousand feet in the air…” he mutters under his breath, barely audible.

“Hmm?” Kanaya asks.

“Oh, nothing.” John says.

“Well, what is it?” Kanaya asks.

“First off, where’s Rose?” John asks.

“She is currently in a meeting.” Kanaya says.

“Oh.” John says. His expression falls a little.

“Why do you ask?” Kanaya wonders aloud.

“Just wondering.” John says. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about-” John stops.

“Yes?” Kanaya says. “John?”

“Ok, good, got him.” John says in a slightly different voice. “He’s not in control.”

“Who’s not-?” Kanaya stops speaking when John whips out a notepad and writes down several names before sliding the list to Kanaya.

“Put that in your pocket.” John says in the different voice. “Now.”

“What is this?” Kanaya asks.

“A list of people.” John says. “My name is Shade. I’m an entity possessing John. Well, a second John’s body, long story. Anyway, my… let’s just say alternate personality has been hunting you down, all of you.”

“All of us?” Kanaya asks as she looks at the name list and puts it in her pocket.

“The gods of Earth C.” Shade says. “Lucie Miller, Colin Egerton, Everett Hughes, and this body. This alternate John Egbert. Kill the other three, and then it’ll just be him.”

“You’re trying to help us.” Kanaya says.

“I’m fighting him every moment, I’m fighting him now.” Shade says. “One of these days I might actually beat him, and then I might just be able to undo all of this. Bring everyone back.” Kanaya sits a little straighter when she hears that. “So find those three and kill them.”

“Everett’s dropped off the map.” Kanaya says. “The others may be easier. Even so, how do I know I can trust you?” she asks.

“I…” Shade sighs. “All in all, I don’t expect you to trust me. I would suggest killing this body right here, right now, but…” he pauses, thinking his words over carefully, “He’s anticipated I might tell somebody, and if this John dies right here, right now, he’ll properly manifest, and then we’ll really have a problem on our hands. I’ve gotta get out of here before I do something bad.”

With that, John stands and heads for the door of the meeting room, before his body language changes incredibly subtly and he whips out a pistol with a silencer, shooting her twice in the chest. Immediately after she gasps in pain and slumps to the ground, he snarls at himself and holsters the pistol, crushing his left shoulder in his right hand.

“Get out, Shade.” Shade’s corrupted side says.

“You killed her, you fucking bastard!” Shade hisses under his breath.

“Get out!” Shade whisper-yells, and then goes silent. He cracks his neck and walks out the door, closing it behind him. Some way into the base, he disappears.

Kanaya’s body isn’t found until two hours later, and it is appropriately discovered by Rose.

Her anguished scream echoes through the facility.

6/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Vriska. Kanaya's gone now too, but at least Shade is fighting back against his corrupted subconscious.  
> Lucie Miller, Colin Egerton, Everett Hughes, John Egbert. Kill them all.


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ERROR/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one cuts close.

**November 13th, 5023**

The rebellion’s morale falls once again with Kanaya’s death. Rose nearly loses it at her funeral, but does her best to keep together. She needs to lead the rebellion now, to finish the job for her wife. Even so, she’s still concerned about the note in Kanaya’s pocket;

YOU ARE BEING HUNTED

Every god of Earth C is under attack.

These are the people that killed Sollux, Meenah, Calliope, Karkat, and Terezi;

Lucie Miller

Colin Egerton

Everett Hughes

John Egbert (Different one from alternate timeline!) - MAIN HOST (Primary target)

Rose doesn’t know why, but for some reason she feels compelled to listen to the strange warning. So, she sends soldiers out to find the three targets she can find once she plugs their names into the rebellion database, whereupon she finds out that the two she doesn’t know are also observed to be members of Crockercorp. When it comes to dealing with Lucie Miller and Colin Egerton, Rose ends up… making some mistakes, to put it lightly. In her defence, she was pissed off and needed someone to revenge-kill for Kanaya. So, she personally tracked both of them down and killed them in their sleep.

As for the remaining two targets, Everett Hughes and the alternate John Egbert remain unfound.

* * *

**February 4, 5024**

**3 Months Later**

Ruby stands in the wheat fields beyond the farmhouse, staring at the setting sun. They like to do this every now and then and just admire nature in all its glory. Jade’s inside finishing up with dinner at the moment, and Ruby likes to spend at least ten minutes a week watching the orange light as it slips below the horizon. It’s peaceful, quiet.

Then, the bullet grazes her shoulder and sends her reeling.

Jade teleports outside instantly when she hears the gunshot, and is at Ruby’s side in an instant, turning to see a figure striding through the fields towards them, twirling a pistol in their hand. She snarls instinctively, and visibly flinches when she sees it’s John.

“John?” she hesitantly asks.

“No, not quite.” John says in a voice that most definitely isn’t his, before glitching a little like a broken video game sprite and punching himself in the face and muttering “Shut up” under his breath before turning back to Jade. “Anyway, shall we get this over with?” he raises the gun again and Jade steps in front of Ruby, snarling. “You do know that if I shoot you, you’ll die heroically?” he says. Jade barely reacts. “Well then.” he mutters. Then, he shoots.

His aim flinches at the last second, however, and instead nicks Jade in the shoulder. He grabs his wrist with his other hand and crushes it, snarling. “Get out.” he hisses. He takes aim again, and the gun jams. “Oh, so we’re playing this game now then, are we?” he mutters, tossing the gun to the side and pulling out a golden sword from his sylladex. “Bet this.”

“Ruby, stay behind me.” Jade says, panicking slightly when she tries and fails to use her Green Sun powers. They aren’t gone, she can tell that, but she can feel that they’re being suppressed. Ruby shrinks behind her as John steps forwards and Jade reaches through her sylladex, finding that one sword that Dave gave her before his untimely death.

John seems to wrestle with himself as he approaches her. “Worried, aren’t you, that you can’t use those fancy powers of yours.” he says, flinching a little before glitching again.

Then, he swings the sword and Jade catches it with her own, her grip shaking because of her shoulder injury. He stabs forwards and she just dodges it, pushing Ruby back defensively. As she knocks John’s sword aside, the fact that the thing in front of her wears her brother’s face prevents her from cutting his throat, and she instead hits him in the face with the hilt of the sword, causing him to stumble back. She feels the lock over her Green Sun powers dissipate for a split second and doesn’t hesitate to snap her fingers and send Ruby away.

A second later, John practically slams into her and just barely cuts her finger with his sword.

A singular drop of cherub poison enters her blood.

* * *

Rose is alone on the bridge of her ship, staring out the massive glass window, when she hears the sharp  _ crack _ sound that she’s come to associate with Jade’s teleportation. She turns around and pauses. “Ruby?” she asks.

“Oh my…” Ruby says, looking around and taking in where they are, tearing up a little. “Mom? Oh god…” they collapse to their knees. “No, no, no…”

“Where’s Jade?” Rose asks as she goes over to Ruby.

“I…” Ruby whispers. “I don’t know.” their voice is strained, like they’ve got a knot in their throat. Ruby cries out of worry for several minutes before Jade pops into existence, smoldering for some reason. She doesn’t hesitate to scoop Ruby into a hug. After a minute or so like that, she turns to Rose.

“It came after you, didn’t it?” Rose asks. Jade nods, already having an idea of what ‘it’ is.

“What is it?” Jade asks anyway, hoping to confirm her suspicions.

“The same thing that killed the others.” Rose says. “We’re being hunted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose is fairly pissed.  
> Jade made it, but there's a single drop of cherub poison in her blood. That's sure to cause problems.  
> At least they know they're being hunted now.  
> 6/17


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 7/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bar names are still important.

**March 30, 5024**

Jake steps out of the bar  _ The Mother’s Love _ and shambles back to John’s house, where Tavros is already sleeping. It’s about midnight now, and he’s having some trouble seeing in the dark despite the various streetlights. He’s alone on the sidewalk on the dark road with only a dim street lamp lighting his way, basking him in a strange orange colour that stands harsh against the darkness of the shadows. Even drunk, he feels something’s wrong already. As for what’s wrong, he is unsure. But it’s not long before he catches the shadow behind him and flinches. He’s being followed. He walks faster, and his pursuer matches his pace. Soon, he’s running, and then he’s falling and gasping for breath as a golden knife is thrown into his back. Twisting around, he comes face to face with someone familiar.

Crockercorp General Everett Hughes.

“Everett?” he chokes out, and groans in pain.

“Not quite.” Hughes says in a voice that isn’t his, and shoves Jake onto his face, pulling the knife from his back. Jake groans in pain again. “I just look like him.”

As Jake twists to face Hughes, he gets a good look at his hand and the golden ring on his finger, and tenses up. It’s the Ring of Life, he instinctively knows. “What are you?” he asks, almost unconsciously saying it.

“Now there’s a question.” Hughes says. “But I’ve got a question for you first. How’s your free will, Jake English?”

“What?” Jake asks in pure confusion. “What on Earth do you mean by  _ that _ ?”

“Have you ever considered that you’re not in control of your life?” Hughes asks. “That you’re just being paraded around like puppets as part of a larger narrative?”

“Are you seriously going on about that again?” Jake asks.

“Had enough of the word ‘narrative’ for one lifetime, Jake?” Hughes teases. “Subject to one too many Lalonde rants?”

“Oh for…” Jake mutters as he begins feebly trying to crawl away.

“Going somewhere?” Hughes asks, and steps on Jake’s wounds, causing him to groan. “Have you ever considered that you’re not in control of your life?”

“Of course I’m not in control of my life.” Jake mutters, trying to scrabble out from underneath Hughes’ foot. “Bloody hell, everyone’s always pushing me around.”

“Oh for goodness sake.” Hughes says. “You know what? Fuck it with you.”

He shoots Jake in the neck four times with a silenced pistol.

Tavros finds out in the morning.

Jane finds out a few hours after that.

The rebellion finds out around the same time, and hell breaks loose once again.

7/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there goes Jake. Sorry.  
> Shade's subconscious literally got fed up of listening to Jake's bullshit. His patience is waning.  
> 7/17


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ERROR/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was (darkly) too much fun to write.

**August 17, 5024**

**9:37 PM**

It’s 9:37 PM, and the Presidential Motorcade is driving along a dark and surprisingly quiet highway out in the middle of a desert. Jane is sitting next to the president, who is staring out the window rather absentmindedly. The first major sign of trouble is when all of the cars pull to the right one by one to avoid the flaming wreck of a vehicle on the road, the convoy’s route car, which typically drives a few minutes ahead of all the rest, scanning for threats. The rest of the motorcade has already enacted defensive protocols, and everything tightens up. Jane knows something is wrong for certain, but she’ll have to wait and see what happens.

At 9:42 PM, less than 20 minutes out from the nearest city, it happens.

Jane hears the crash and can see what looks to be an armoured van of sorts crushing one of the rear guard bikes along with its rider underneath its wheels. It veers in such a way that causes a second bike to spin out and crash, before bumping one of the rear guard cars and shoving it off the road, forcing it to try and move through the rocky desert. It is very clearly not an offroading vehicle in any capacity, something that appears to be causing it damage. It’s not long before it flips onto its side. Going after the second car, the van’s side door opens and Everett Hughes leans out, holding what looks like some kind of blocky rifle. He fires it and cracks the bulletproof glass.

“How ‘bout we turn this up to 25?” he wonders aloud as he turns a dial on the back of the rifle. Taking aim, he fires and breaks a circular hole in the car’s window about the size of a tennis ball. The driver gets a huge hole in his skull, and the car swerves as it falls behind, causing the third of the four bikes to crash into it.

“Mmm, give it a 50.” Hughes says, turning the dial farther. “Hey Eli, just keep us going!” The driver, a recently acquired drone named Eli Weathers, increases the speed, allowing them to get alongside the ambulance now at the rear. He aims at it with the rifle and blows the door off with the resulting blast, also disintegrating the driver and causing it to swerve off road and stop in a ditch. The driver of the last bike behind them starts shooting with his pistol. “Oh, fuck off.” Hughes says, firing and vaporizing the driver with a single shot. He now focuses his attention on the communications vehicle just up ahead even as the helicopter above begins to futilely rake his bulletproof van with bullets. Turning down to 25, he blows the communication car’s wheel off and then turns back to 50 to blow apart its driver and passenger.

“Boy, this is surprisingly easy!” he shouts as they come up on the convoy’s hazardous materials mitigation unit, which he fires a pair of shots into. First, he blows open the doors to the back section and then takes out the people in the front, causing it to join the ranks of broken vehicles behind them. The two CAT defense vehicles with special forces in them are already firing at them, and Hughes says “Fuck it, hundred!”, turns the dial up to 100, and then blows one of the vehicles in half, annihilating everyone in the back and pulverizing the organs of everyone in the front.

“Holy shit!” Jane hears one of the soldiers shout over the radio shortly before the second CAT vehicle gets blown into nothing but shrapnel and car parts. One of the chopper’s bullets actually gets a hole right through Hughes’ arm. This seems more to annoy him than anything else, so he smokes the thing in a single shot. It tumbles out of the sky in a flaming spinout, hitting the road and crushing the motorcade’s lead car and causing the stagecoach with Jane and the president to hit the flaming wreckage and crush both of the people in the front seats to their death. The fire begins to spread, forcing Jane and the president to leave and stand out in the open. Hughes blows open the support vehicle, killing several white house staff, even as secret service agents rush out of the last intact car with guns raised. Hughes turns the dial back to 25 and punches holes in each of the servicemen's chests. Jane fires a shot from her pistol at Hughes, who dodges and the bullet punches through Eli Weathers’ head instead.

“Hmm, that one was new.” Hughes says, turning the dial to 10 and putting a small hole through Jane’s hand as the laser travels straight through and rips through her shoulder as well, causing her to drop the pistol and gasp in pain. He runs up, chuckles, and kicks her in the face, knocking her to the ground.

“Mister President.” he says as he turns to the president. “Your continued existence is irrelevant to my plan, but I’m here to stir the pot.” the president gulps. “Even though I came for the gods, you’ll make a nice side dish of chaos to mess this timeline the _fuck_ up. Goodbye, mister president.” he trains the gun on the president’s head. His face flickers for a moment and he winces before adding “Toodles.” and blowing a hole through the man’s face.

“And as for you,” Hughes says as he hoists Jane by the neck with his right hand and slams her back against the door of the sedan that previously contained the now-dead secret service agents. Jane gasps. “I’m not here to kill you, despite the excessive violence.” he says.

“Fuck you.” Jane gasps out.

“No, not that either.” Hughes says. “As tempting as it might have been for you before, when Everett Hughes was still controlling this body.”

“The fuck did you do to him?” Jane asks, choking on her words.

“I destroyed him.” Hughes says. “As for Pyrope and other John, as well as my consciousness, well. Lucky fucks. Could never kill my consciousness, and he’s protecting _them_. Even now, he’s-” Hughes cuts off when his face glitches for a second and he flinches, “Killing me. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Villainous monologues happen when the antagonist seeks to kill someone. And that’s not what I’m here for.”

He raises his left hand, revealing a pulsing blue light coming from the centre of his palm, the same colour of John’s retcon powers. “This will sting, but it won’t take a moment. When it’s done with, I promise you’ll be feeling _much_ better.” he says. “Now, hold still.”

Jane struggles against Hughes’ iron grip and contemplates everything leading up to this moment. Her whole life. Was it wasted? All pointless, all down the drain thanks to some entity clearly more powerful than her about to possibly suck her soul out or something along those lines. Was any of it worth it? No, she thinks. No it wasn’t. She shouldn’t have gotten herself into this mess. But now, because she’s cut herself off from everyone, there’s no one to save her.

As Hughes hand presses over her face, the blue light spreads and spreads until it engulfs her vision, being all she can see. She feels her mind start to slip away, no, _wash away_ , like a sand castle when the tide comes in. Soon the light is all she can see, enveloping everything and burning away her thoughts until there’s nothing left, only

only

only

  
  


only

  
  
  


only

  
  
  
  


only

  
  
  
  
  


Everything suddenly comes flooding back in a torrent as her mind is suddenly restored due to Hughes’ hand falling from her face, him jerking for a moment, and then falling limp. The thoughts that return hit her like a semi-truck to the skull, or like a one ton gold brick wrapped in lemon skin smashing into her brain. Hughes falls to the ground and spasms from what looks to be a small grey circular device on his neck, seeming to be electrocuting him.

“I got him.” Hami says as she steps out of the darkness, illuminated by the orange glow of the burning vehicles.

“Good.” Hradra says as he walks over next to her. “We must secure him and bring him to the nearby city for interrogation.”

“Attempt to discern his weakness.” Hami says, nodding.

“What the fuck?” Jane asks. “Who… who are you?”

“We are the Knights of Ouroboros.” Hulliol says as he rounds the back of the sedan.

“And we are here to save Shade.” Hart adds as she flies down from the sky on a jetpack.

“Shade?” Jane asks.

“The entity that has been killing you all.” Hradra says. “We are here to stop him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The president is dead, and thousands of taxpayer dollars that went into all those vehicles have gone down the drain.  
> Shade's still fighting back against his subconscious. Just hold on lad.  
> Also, as for Shade's subconscious' reference to Hughes and Jane, he was totally implying that one or the other of them had some... sexual feelings for the other.  
> Shade nearly got Jane. Ack.  
> The Knights of Ouroboros are here! Yay! Took them long enough.


	13. Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interrogate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More talking.

**August 17, 5024**

**11:04 PM**

The fact that Hulliol has a minigun attached to his arm and a menacing gaze that seems only slightly unfit for Dave Strider’s face proves to be a valuable method of preventing Jane from trying to unleash her fury on John, Jade, or Rose, and vice versa. Hulliol and Hart are watching the four of them stare through the interrogation window, while the other two of them are inside. Hughes is strapped to a chair, and Hradra is sitting across from him. Hami is in the corner of the dark room, pacing back and forth.

“I still don’t understand why  _ you people _ are interrogating Everett.” Jane says.

“He is not Everett Hughes.” Hulliol says. “Not anymore.”

“We have already said, his name is Shade.” Hart says. “And we’re trying to free him.”

“So, they sent you after me, did they?” Hughes asks in a voice that isn’t his. “The Knights of Ouroboros? Hradra Samsara and his little band of cyborgs. Charming.”

“Curious.” Hradra says.

“What is?” Hughes asks.

“You are acting… similarly… to Shatter.” Hradra says. “Condescending. Controlling. Like a villain who knows he has power over everything.”

“Except I do.” Hughes says.

“Incorrect.” Hradra says. “We have been fine-tuned to detect plotline duplication as well as mental control.”

“Have you now?” Hughes asks, chuckling.

“You are not in control at this moment.” Hradra says. “Your control has been very on and off. It is being used sparingly. I see when Shatter reprogrammed your subconscious in his likeness, he also did a very good job of shattering you.”

Hughes’ face glitches for a moment and he sighs. “Hmm. Yeah.” he says in a resigned tone.

“Interesting that you have yet to actually duplicate a plotline.” Hradra says. “Usually, you’d be well along, but you appear to be winging it. You left a trail of destruction through a Meat timeline and juiced up a Candy timeline, as well as caused damage in Sierra-Nevada-32 and Universe “Four”. All evidence so far seems to suggest that you have been damaged in such a way that your powers are out of your control.” Hradra says, and then pauses. “Of course, you would only be able to control them if the  _ real _ controller was in your head.” he has another pause for effect before he lays out his conclusion. “Shatter. It’s you, isn’t it?”

“Ooh, look at your smiley face.” Hughes says, leaning back a little. “You’re grinning.”

“It is you.” Hradra says. “So you’ve controlling Shade ever since you got here.”

“Oh yeah.” Shatter says. “And the crazy bit is, Shade still thinks I’m the subconscious. He doesn’t even know. Ha.”

“So, what exactly is your plan here?” Hradra asks.

“Vacate this body and let plotlines abound a chapter or so after this one.” Shatter says, and then flinches.

“Now he’s gone, and I can do my thing again.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“We need a name for you.” Hradra says.

“No.” Shade’s subconscious says. “I don’t like names. I reject Shade, I reject anything else.”

“Alright then.” Hradra says. “I can feel the plotline, what is that?”

“I don’t know, I’m not telling.” Shade’s subconscious says. Hradra stands.

“What are you doing?” Hradra asks.

“You people really don’t understand me, do you?” Shade’s subconscious asks. “The things I can do, the power I can wield.”

“That is irrelevant.” Hradra says.

“God, you’re so robotic.” Shade’s subconscious says. “Care to show a little emotion?”

“Hradra, we are not going to get anywhere with this.” Hami says. “Hughes is useless.”

“I am tempted to agree with you.” Hradra says.

Outside, Rose sighs as she stares into the room.

“You should let us in there.” Rose says.

“So you can butcher him?” Hart asks. “No. This is our job.”

“Then why are they blocking the door with that chair?” Jane asks.

“They’re trying something a little more advanced.” Hulliol says.

Inside, Hradra pulls back from the door and goes over to the table, a small thin rod of metal extending out of his wrist gauntlet. “Ooh, whatcha doing now?” Hughes asks.

“Something experimental.” Hradra says, forcing Hughes’ face onto the table and jamming the rod into his exposed spine. He gasps and struggles, yelling something, before going limp. “Hami, take over.” Hradra says, stepping backwards as Hughes sits up, Hradra still holding the rod into his neck.

“Shade, can you hear me?” Hami asks.

“Yes, I can hear you.” Shade says in an almost overjoyed tone. “You guys came to find me.”

“Your father sent us to help you, yes.” Hami says, and Shade’s face falls.

“Oh.” he says. “Oh, of course he sent you. You know he doesn’t love me, right?”

“That does not matter.” Hami says.

“No,” Shade says, nodding, “No it doesn’t.”

“Who’s next?” Hami asks.

“I don’t know, I-I-I…”

“Careful, Shade.” Hami says. “Your connection is fragile. Take your time.”

“It’s Roxy.” Shade says after a pause.

“Oh god.” John says, straightening.

“He’s there right now.” Shade says. “Oh god.”

Hami turns to the dark glass. “Hart, Hulliol, go now.”

“Go, John.” Hulliol says, and follows him as he turns into wind and begins to fly back to NuSeattle. Hart goes with him and Hulliol follows as well. Shade cracks his neck and is Shade’s subconscious again.

“Nice try.” Shade’s subconscious says. “You won’t be seeing him again.”

“We don’t need him anymore.” Hami says.

“No we don’t. Besides, his body is fading already.” Hradra says, his voice increasing in volume. He pulls the steel rod from Hughes’ neck, before ramming it through his eye, killing Everett Hughes once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shatter's been in control the whole way here. Now his subconscious is back.  
> "Yes I can hear you." may accidentally be an Alien reference on my part.  
> Roxy's next. Uh oh.


	14. Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't going to end well.

**August 17, 5024**

**11:26 PM**

John turns from the wind into his normal self, touching down outside Roxy’s house to find an alternate version of himself standing outside, a knife in one hand, pressed against Harry Anderson’s throat, and a detonator in the other.

“Take a step and I blow this house to bits.” Shade’s subconscious says. “Take two steps, and I’ll cut your son’s throat. What’ll it be, John Egbert?”

“Take it easy.” John says. “Just… please don’t.”

“Or what?” Shade’s subconscious says as Hart and Hulliol set down next to John. “I have complete control over this situation.”

“Put a hole in his head, Hart.” Hulliol says.

“His thumb is too heavy on the detonator.” Hart responds.

“Dad?” Harry asks.

“It’s alright Harry.” John says. “It’s going to be alright.”

“Now, I promise I won’t-” Shade’s subconscious starts to say, and is cut off when a bullet lances through his shoulder, causing him to loosen his grip on the detonator and drop the knife, allowing Harry to stumble forwards into his father’s arms. “Crockercorp sniper, you cheating fuck.” Shade’s subconscious says, and pulls up a small device in his freehand when Hart fires him, causing a shield to generate and ricochet off, hitting the supposed Crockercorp sniper and dropping him off of the nearby roof. After a half-second pause, Shade’s subconscious regains his grip on the detonator and presses it, blowing Roxy’s house to shrapnel.

“ROXY!” John screams, and Alt-John glitches for a moment, his expression changing just long enough for him to say  _ I’m sorry _ , and then he disappears in a blue flash.

“No…!” John says in a more hopeless tone as he sprints into the ruins, finding nothing.

“That Z-Neutrino, wasn’t it?” Hulliol wonders aloud.

“Yes, I can smell it in the air.” Hart says. “Like ozone.”

“She’s dead then.” Hulliol says.

“Disintegrated.” Hart nods.

“They are dropping like flies…” Hulliol says.

Harry stands in shock, staring at the rubble where his father has fallen to his knees and is crying. And who could blame him? Hold tight readers. We’re on a downward spiral to doom, and all you can do is watch. How fun!

8/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roxy, no!  
> Z-Neutrino - Totally not a Doctor Who reference.  
> Also, Shade's subconscious is talking to us.


	15. Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is sad.

**August 18, 5024**

To say Jane feels hurt would be a lie. She still hasn’t gotten over Jake’s death, and now Roxy is dead too. She doesn’t feel hurt. She feels empty.

John is hurt, but he’s got to power through it, doing his best not to return to  _ The Queen’s Fool _ bar and get drunk. He knows that Harry is never going to recover from this. He doubts he will either.

Jade never lets Ruby out of her sight and ignores the aching pains that occasionally strike her chest when the drop of cherub poison in her blood pulses inside her beating heart.

Rose never lets Vrissy out of her sight and ignores the aching pain she feels when she wakes up each morning and finds herself alone, once again remembering that her wife is dead.

As for Hradra, Hami, Hulliol, and Hart, they wait. They know Shade’s signature now, and all they have to do is wait for it to pop up again. At the moment, he appears to be outside reality.

If anything good has come of this mess, Crockercorp is finished, the PR nightmare from last year finally having caused a tank in company profits bad enough to cause it to collapse. The rebellion hasn’t jumped to try and go after Jane just yet, but they haven’t dissolved, especially considering Jane has stepped into the role of president.

“What do you think we’ll do when they kill this thing?” Rose asks as her and Jade sit in the  _ Spy _ bar having a drink.

“We’ll keep acting against Jane.” Jade says after a pause.

“That’s not what I meant.” Rose says, sighing and leaning back.

“I know it’s not.” Jade says. “I don’t want to talk about it though, because I know you’re hurt.”

“I’ve got to live for Vrissy and Ruby, but I’ve got no one to spend my life with.” Rose says.

“I’m sorry.” Jade says.

“Don’t.” Rose says. “Please don’t tell me you’re sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“I just wish I could have done something.” Jade says.

“If what those four said about that  _ thing _ is true, then…” Rose says, “Nobody could have ever done anything about it.”

“Do you think they’ll manage?” Jade asks.

“I have no idea.” Rose says. “I’m hoping so, yes.”

8/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is panicking.  
> Crockercorp is going down, and the rebellion will probably be going down too.


	16. Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hmm. This could be a problem."

**September 1, 5024**

“I have a lock.” Hami suddenly says.

“I am sensing him too.” Hradra says.

The four Knights of Ouroboros take to the sky and chase after Shade’s signal.

Jane’s in her office when she looks up and sees John in the dark corner of the room, already knowing that it isn’t John.

“It’s you.” Jane says. “Isn’t it?”

John doesn’t respond, simply stares with a calm smile on his face.

“Of course it’s you. Come to finish the job.” Jane says.

“I suppose you could say that.” John says as he steps out of the shadows.

“What are you?” Jane asks.

“A program.” Shade’s subconscious says. “One meant for toppling regimes of evil. Although, I’ve been reprogrammed by my brother. Now I topple regimes _for_ evil.”

“So what, is that what you’re here for?” Jane asks. “To kill me?”

“No.” Shade’s subconscious says. “Where’s the fun in that? I’ve got other greater plans for you.”

“You know what?” Jane asks. “Fuck you.”

She grabs the revolver on her desk and fires at him, emptying all six chambers. When she pulls the trigger a seventh time and hears a click, John remains completely untouched, the bullets littering the ground around him.

“Wha-what?” Jane wonders aloud.

“I’m untouchable.” Shade’s subconscious says. “How about that. I’ve also soundproofed this room, so nobody heard that. Also, want to see something jarring?”

“What do you mean

by jarring?” Jane asks and stumbles from the vertigo as her sentence is segmented and split between two paragraphs. “What the fuck was that?”

“Just a small experiment.” Shade’s subconscious says. “Something to knock you off that stable mental state of yours. Now, let’s do this.”

John steps forwards and Jane stumbles backwards, trying to escape, to get away, somehow flee. But his hand begins to glow with retcon-coloured energy. He places it on her face and forces her backwards into the wall. The bright blue light spreads until it’s all she can see, and then everything is falling away and only

only

  
  


only

  
  
  


only

  
  
  


only

  
  
  
  
  


only

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Only the Void Remains.**

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


When Jane opens her eyes again and John removes his hand from her face, she is Jane no longer. Instead, Shade’s subconscious controls her.

“That was surprisingly easy.” Jane says aloud, and then both of them disappear in blue flashes.

By the time the Ouroboros Knights arrive, the two hosts are long gone.

9/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paragraph jump! That was weird. Might do that more often.  
> Only the Void Remains. Another XX-Beta-12 reference, meaning that either Shatter, Shade, or both, have something to do with the thing in those pits.


	17. Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally find out where Vriska ended up in this chapter. Yeah, remember when she disappeared in chapter 8.  
> Hey, wait a second.  
> (That wasn't actually intentional lol)

**September 23rd, 5024**

Vriska comes back from the relevantly named bar  _ The Pirate’s Plunder _ having gotten herself drunk once again. It’s been exactly a year since Terezi’s death, and since then she hasn’t moved on whatsoever. She slouches on the couch.

“I spent 23rd feeling six feet under, now I’m thirty thousand feet in the air…” Vriska mutters. She pauses for a second when she sees the figure standing in the corner of her room.

“Hello Vriska.” John says. “It’s not supposed to be hard to find people, but finding you was a bit of a hassle.” he sits down in one of her chairs. “Perhaps because you’re the one of the only relevant people in a world of irrelevance. Or maybe Shade has been doing his best to camouflage you.”

“You’re not John.” Vriska says, her suspicions confirmed.

“Well, I figured you’d guess that given that I simply showed up at your house with no announcement and didn’t knock.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“You could’ve just walked in.” Vriska says. “I think I might have left the door open.”

“Hmm. Yes it is.” Shade’s subconscious says after a brief pause.

A solid minute of silence passes as Vriska avoids his gaze.

“I assume you’re here to kill me.” Vriska says.

“Well, yes and no.” Shade’s subconscious says. “I haven’t really done…” he pauses. “I haven’t really had a conversation with any of you lot. A proper conversation.”

“So what, you’re going to have a proper conversation with me?” Vriska asks.

“I suppose so.” Shade’s subconscious says. “So how are you?” he asks.

“Just amazing.” Vriska says. “I sure do look it.”

There’s another pause, this one only ten seconds long.

“You want a drink?” Vriska asks, grabbing a beer off the table next to her and offering it.

“Don’t worry about that.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“Suit yourself.” Vriska says and swigs the drink. “Nobody comes by anymore.”

“Probably because none of them know where you live.” Shade’s subconscious says. “And you went with NuVallejo. Or, rather, north of it. Out in the sticks.”

“Yeah, well, it’s quiet.” Vriska says. “Peaceful. Out of the way.”

“Funny.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“What is?” Vriska asks.

“The sticks.” Shade’s subconscious says, emphasizing the second S. “It’s 5024, you’d think they’d have got this area now.”

“Yeah well, guess they didn’t think it was worth the effort.” Vriska says.

Another pause, this one a good 45 seconds.

“I was thinking.” Vriska says. “That when this is over, however this ends… somebody should write a book.”

“Somebody should write a book, that’s for sure.” Shade’s subconscious says. “What about?”

“You.” Vriska says. “And all you’ve done. A story of what happened for those who didn’t know. Do it from my perspective.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Shade’s subconscious asks.

“Yeah.” Vriska says. “On the table, next to you.”

Shade’s subconscious turns John’s head to look at the book on the table next to him, which looks like it’s been opened, closed, and reopened thousands of times. As he picks it up, Vriska continues.

“It’s only half full, and it’s nowhere near the whole story.” Vriska says.

“You wrote this?” Shade’s subconscious asks as he flips through the pages.

“Uh huh.” Vriska says.

“I never pegged you for much of a writer.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“Yeah, well, what do you fucking know?” Vriska asks. “Guess anyone really can be anything.”

“If you want…” Shade’s subconscious says, “I could fill in the blanks.”

“That’s fine, thanks.” Vriska says. “My perspective’s enough.”

“Suit yourself.” Shade’s subconscious says.

A two minute pause.

“It’s the anniversary.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“Congratulations, he figured it out.” Vriska says. “Gold star for you, mother _ fucker _ .” The last word is spoken with an unrivaled level of vitriol.

“Oh, I already knew.” Shade’s subconscious says. “I was going to do this on the 2nd, but I figured you’d actually be more comfortable with the 23rd.”

“Really? Why’s that?” Vriska asks.

“There’s a whole bunch of sleeping pills over there.” Shade’s subconscious says. “And you don’t strike me as the kind of person who needs help sleeping.”

“You got me.” Vriska says, shrugging. “Oh well.” she says after a pause. She holds the beer lying on the couch and holds it in the air. “To Terezi Pyrope.” she says. “The greatest woman I ever knew.”

“Second only to you.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“Actually, I’m not on the list of ‘greatest Xs I knew’ anymore.” Vriska says. “Yeah, self isolation and losing your purpose can do  _ wonders _ for your ego.”

A one and a half minute pause.

“So you got Jane?” Vriska says. “Unwrote her?”

“One wishes.” Shade’s subconscious says. “I took her over. Controlling her right now.”

“Hmm.” Vriska says.

A minute long pause.

“Just fucking get it over with.” Vriska says. “I don’t care how you do it, just get it over with.”

Shade’s subconscious places a hand on her shoulder and she ceases to exist.

With that, John grabs the book on the table and leaves.

Seven to go.

10/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I spent 23rd feeling six feet under, now I'm thirty thousand feet in the air" is an EDEN reference. He makes good music. Also, it's a repeated line. Shade's subconscious knew Vriska was going to say this, so he said it earlier.  
> Vriska was totally going to end her life with a sleeping pill overdose.  
> There goes Vriska.  
> 10/17


	18. Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Airport.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit's gonna get whack very soon.

**December 31st, 5024**

**10:43 AM**

“I have a lock.” Hradra says, and stands.

“And where is our target?” Hart wonders aloud, already knowing the answer from the shared information feeds.

“NuSeattle Airport.” Hulliol says.

“I can sense… isn’t that where…?” Hami starts to say.

“Oh dear.” Hradra says. “Of course. He has been playing us.”

“They’re all there, aren’t they?” Hulliol says.

“Of course they are.” Hart says. “We have to move.”

“What’s that?” Rose asks when they hear the siren as they stand in the airport terminal.

“Moreover, why are we here?” Jade wonders aloud. “How did we get in this airport?”

Around them, people begin to disperse. “Uh, wasn’t I just…” Tavros trails off, “In the Crockercorp spire?”

“I was at home.” Harry adds.

“What the heck?” John wonders aloud.

“That is an evacuation siren.” Hradra says as he teleports in out of thin air.

“Yes, I think we could figure that out judging by how everyone is leaving.” Vrissy says.

“He’s evacuating the airport.” Hart says as she steps into existence, Hami and Hulliol directly behind her. “He must want a fight without any interruptions.”

“Then why on Earth has he called in the military?” Hami asks as she searches through the newsfeeds using her headset.

“What?” Hradra wonders aloud.

“Ah.” Hulliol says. “It is not to keep him in. It is to keep  _ us _ in, and keep everyone else out.”

“How long until they reach our current location?” Hradra asks, despite the fact that he is already running calculations based on cameras.

“Ten minutes.” Hami says.

“He is here.” Hulliol says as he straightens.

Several moments later, two figures walk out of the crowd. An alternate John and Jane. “Prepare for trouble…” Alt-John starts.

“And make it double.” Jane finishes.

“I cannot believe I just said that out of two mouths just for the gag.” Alt-John says.

“Shade.” Hradra says. “If you can hear me, we’re going to get you out of there.”

Alt-John and Jane’s faces glitch for just a moment. “I can’t hold it.” Shade says using John. “I’m not strong enough to-”

“ENOUGH!” Shade’s subconscious shouts, cutting Shade off as he regains control. A small orb of energy appears in his hand and shoots forwards, blasting his eleven targets backwards through the large window behind them.

“Now then.” Alt-John says. “Let’s get this party started.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters will be a battle scene. Two on eleven!


	19. Nineteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 12/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I've got some children I need to make into _corpses!_ "

**December 31st, 5024**

**10:47 AM**

Alt-John and Jane float down into the open airport as the eleven people collect themselves, getting up from the snowy tarmac. Hradra, Hami, Hulliol, and Hart are the first up, while John, Rose, and Jade follow with Vrissy, Ruby, Tavros, and Harry following them.

“How about I take Hulliol, Hart, Jade, Rose, Vrissy, and Ruby…” Alt-John starts to say.

“And that leaves this one to deal with Hradra, Hami, John, Harry, and Tavros?” Jane finishes.

“I’m talking to myself.” Alt-John observes.

“Yes I am.” Jane says, and then snorts.

“Now then.” Alt-John says as he looks across the faces of his eleven foes. “Draw.”

**STRIFE**

Alt-John and Jane move forwards, enveloped in a strange blue flame. With a sweeping wave of energy, the eleven of them are scattered across the airport. Hami slams into a massive plane, while Hulliol crashes onto its wing. Vrissy slams into the front wheel of another plane while Rose rolls to a stop near her daughter. John is clotheslined on a helicopter’s tail. Harry slams across the ground. Hart crashes into a pile of crates. Ruby and Jade smash through one of the windows and crash into a small store. Tavros is knocked to the side and faceplants on the ground, while Hradra is sent flying into a wall.

“Scattering them was easy.” Alt-John comments, surveying his targets. Jane floats towards Tavros, and he begins to try and get away in a scrabbling panic. As for Alt-John, he goes after Vrissy, who is still face down and groaning from slamming her spine against the large plane wheel. Rose sees him approaching and tries to struggle to her feet.

“Where do you think you’re going, Tavros?” Jane asks in a calm but aggressive tone. Tavros stumbles to his feet and tries to run, but she grabs him around the throat and slams him against the stone wall of one of the buildings, before throwing him through the glass. She steps towards him but is tackled by John, who knocks her to the inside floor.

“Go, Tavros, go!” John shouts just before Jane kicks him in the face and knocks him aside. Tavros panics and begins to run for the stairs, but Jane lifts her hand and telekinetically stops him in his tracks, and he’s lifted into the air while flailing around in a panic. Hradra crashes through the window and slashes at her with the sword-axe-thing on his arm. She hisses and jumps backwards, her grip on him failing and causing him to fall to the ground. She punches Hradra away, sending him flying, and meets John as he jumps towards her. She catches his fist and crushes it, causing him to yell. She knees him in the stomach and headbutts him before turning to find that Tavros is gone.

“Now where has that boy gone off to?” she wonders aloud as she flies after him. It’s not long before she finds him trying to run away, but he appears to have tripped in his panic. “There you are, Tavros.” she says, grabbing him by the throat and picking him up.

Vrissy looks up just in time to get kicked in the face by Alt-John, who then grabs her by the throat and lifts her up. “Vrissy!” Rose calls shortly before Hami slams into Alt-John and stares him down. He snarls even as his face flickers. She draws the wrist-attached sword axe of hers and stares him down as Hulliol flies down behind him with his own weapon drawn.

“Right then.” Alt-John says. He parries Hami’s attack with his bare hands, shoves her aside, and punches Hulliol backwards, before turning and uppercutting Hami into the sky. As he grabs Vrissy off of the ground by her neck Rose raises her wands and prepares to shoot energy at him, but he throws Vrissy at her and sends them down in a heap. He zaps them with a burst of energy and is about to go after Vrissy again, but the whirring of Hulliol’s minigun deters him and he dodges as bullets spray in a wide arc, whipping a burst of flame around to incapacitate the cyborg and send him sprawling. He grabs Vrissy and tosses her away from Rose, who he blasts again with energy just to be certain. After that, he grabs Vrissy by the throat and begins to choke her. She gasps and struggles.

Jane is interrupted by Jade teleporting Tavros right out of her grasp and pulling him behind her. She snarls, and Jane smiles. “How about that, huh?” Jane says, and steps forwards. She pauses for a moment, turning to see Hart behind her. She looks around, and sighs. “Why don’t I just get on with it?” she says, then teleports behind Hart, grabs her arm, knocks her forwards with an energy burst, wrenching the axe thing free, before teleporting behind Jade and knocking her and Ruby forwards with another energy blast, allowing her an opening to grab Tavros around the neck and jam the sword into his chest. Jade screams his name, and Jane drops him to the ground, where he goes limp. Her face flickers and she clutches her head, but passes the sword through space and into Alt-John’s hand before disappearing herself into the fabric of reality.

Alt-John, still holding Vrissy, catches the sword and rams it into her heart. She sputters and gags, choking on her own blood. Rose screams.

Twenty two seconds after Tavros is stabbed, he goes limp and dies.

Fourteen seconds after Vrissy is stabbed, she goes limp and dies.

Even though Shade is slowly taking over his subconscious, his subconscious smiles. He’s still winning. He’s causing untold damage to this timeline, and all eyes are on it. A perfect diversion.

Rose wails in grief and sorrow.

Soon, her wails turn to screams of anger.

And then from screams to roars of fury.

Her skin turns dark. Her eyes do the same, becoming a deep dark. She is consumed in a vortex of blackness. Rose Lalonde has, for the second time in her life, gone Grimdark.

“Ah,” Alt-John says, “I can work with this.”

12/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose is grimdark.  
> Vrissy and Tavros are dead, and the remaining two kids are next!


	20. Twenty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 13/27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grieve.

**December 31st, 5024**

**10:54 AM**

**STRIFE**

Alt-John tussles with Rose in the air as she flies forwards and slams into him, darkness trailing after them. He spares a brief moment to shove her away and slam Hami away, sending her spinning into a window. He slowly builds up a charge in his left hand and then slams Rose in the sternum, knocking her backwards and sending her spinning into the sky. He shoots forwards and uppercuts her before slamming her downwards and causing her to hit the pavement below and shatter it. She’s far from finished, as she struggles to her feet, shouts something incomprehensible, and shoots forwards with her needle-wands raised. He teleports behind her and lets her fly straight past him so he can focus on Hradra as he flies over and fires an energy bubble of sorts at him. He catches it in his hand telekinetically, and swings it around so it hits Rose and traps her inside, and she yells in fury. Turning to Hradra, he flies at him with the blade he stole off Hart, and swings it. Hradra parries, and they duel through the sky before Alt-John grows bored and throws him away, slamming him into Hulliol. Hart fires a shot at Alt-John that just barely nicks his shoulder when he throws himself backwards, but it seems to be enough to piss him off, judging by how he charges an energy bolt and throws it, blowing the area where Hart is in into pieces and throwing Jade and Ruby aside. Alt-John hovers in the air for a moment, before flying towards the area he just blew up.

He flies through the flames and sets down next to John, Jade, and Ruby. “Hello.” he says casually. Jade snarls, Ruby growls, and John pulls out his hammer. “Oh please, you think you’ll stop me with that?” he chuckles. “I’ve already won, haven’t I?” he slowly steps towards them, listing off various things he’s done. “Killed most of your friends, turned Virginia into a fallout zone, toppled the rebellion as well as Crockercorp, killed the president, and at the end of this, Chicago will be without an airport for quite some time. Not to mention, I’ve-” he’s cut off when he glitches like a video game character and clutches the side of his skull, hissing. John takes the opening to slam into his alt-self with the hammer and shove him towards the flames.

“Jade, go!” John shouts, and Jade tries to teleport Ruby away only to find that she is incapable of teleportation.

“Yes, I disabled your teleportation!” Alt-John shouts as he tussles with the real John, hammer and sword parrying. “You can still do some other things, but-” he’s cut off as John hits him in the chest and he stumbles back with an  _ unf _ , “All bets are off, teleportation wise!” he headbutts John and slashes at him while Jade shatters one of the windows by breaking it with the power she still has and scoops Ruby up in her arms, flying out the window and flying away. Hart emerges from the flames and tries to shoot Alt-John, but he pushes off John to dodge the attack and whips an energy burst that knocks her backwards, before bringing it back around to slam John sideways into a storefront and whipping it forwards again to slam into Jade and send her spinning through the air, knocking Ruby from her grasp. She flails and tries to catch her, but Rose ends up catching her instead, having freed herself from the energy bubble. Alt-John shoots towards them, sword raised, an explosion next to him makes him stop dead in the air, and Hradra flies up using his jetpack with his sword raised. Hulliol is next to him, and Hami soon joins.

“Are you alright?” John asks Hart as she steps back out of the flames, skin charred.

“Of course I am.” The Jade-lookalike says. “Why wouldn’t I be?” With that, she joins the other three Ouroboros Knights.

“You can’t stop me.” Alt-John says. “I’ve already gotten so far.”

“We’re going to stop you,  _ Shatter _ .” Hradra says.

“Well, I’m not Shatter right now.” Shade’s subconscious says.

“You might as well be.” Hami says.

“Hmm, good point.” Shade’s subconscious says, keeping his eye trained on Ruby as Rose gives them to Jade and the two of them start to fly away, Rose remaining to fight Alt-John. As for John himself, he’s joined the list of people in the air who have come to wreak havoc. Harry is hiding in a hangar somewhere, and it is probably for the best that he stays that way.

“The military’s going to be here soon, you know.” Shade’s subconscious says. “Then all hell is  _ really _ going to break loose.” nobody says anything in response, so he shrugs. “Alright then.”

**GRIEVE**

He instantly slams Hradra away into a plane, headbutting Hami into a spinout. Hulliol and Hart fire at him with a minigun and high powered sniper rifle alike, but he evades their attacks and flies forwards, knocking Hulliol into the wall and punching Hart into a window. Rose comes at him while John begins whipping up a wind prison of sorts, but Alt-John knows what he’s doing. He cancels out the wind with his own tornado, and grapples with Rose as she crashes into him. He eventually gets the upper hand and kicks her into John, knocking both of them backwards and allowing him to telekinetically immobilize Jade and pull Ruby from her grasp, dropping them to the ground with a thud. Even though they’re durable, the fall still cracks one of their ribs and they gasp in pain as they struggle to stand. Hami slams into Alt-John and they trade blows for a second before he punches her away into a plane, which he then hits with an energy burst and blows it into shrapnel. Turning back to Ruby, Jade tries to hold him in place with her powers, but he holds his own fairly well and sends her flying with an electricity burst. He cackles as he steps down, but dodges the various explosions coming his way as Hradra unloads with his grenade launcher. He snarls and flies up to meet his opponent, trading blows with his stolen sword. Hradra manages to force him back for a brief moment before he is sent flying into a hangar.

Rose comes back around, still surrounded by blackness and gets in front of Ruby as Alt-John gets closer. “You know, you’re inevitably going to lose this fight.” he says.

“Shut up.” Rose snarls, and fires pure darkness at him, but even as black flames lick at him, he keeps walking forwards calmly. She stares slightly awestruck for a brief moment before he punches her backwards into a plane. He’s about to bring the axe part of the hybrid weapon down on Ruby, but he glitches and stumbles backwards.

“F-fuck, get out!” Shade’s subconscious shouts after a pause.

“Somebody hit me, now!” Shade shouts, and his call is answered. Hulliol tackles him and sends him crashing into a pile of crates, whereupon Shade’s subconscious regains control and knocks Hulliol sideways and sends him flying into Hart, knocking them into a heap.

“Dammit, Shade, stop it!” Shade’s subconscious says. “I really would rather not-!”

“Shut up!” Shade shouts in response. “I don’t care what spiel you have to give! ! I’m going to beat you, and I’m going to fix this!”

Alt-John looks up and sees Jade and John coming from either side. “Here comes the cavalry.” he comments as Jade steps in front of Ruby. “Let’s do this.”

He sends both of them flying with sonic blasts, and they crash into the ground. Ruby struggles to their feet and starts stumbling away. Alt-John hefts the sword in his hand and calmly walks towards them. “Oh fuck.” Ruby mutters as he gets closer.

“Astute observation.” Alt-John says, raising his weapon once again a moment before Hami, burned but not dead, slams into him and slashes him across the arm. He hisses and duels with her for a moment before knocking her away, sonic blasting Rose when she comes back around to fight him as well. “Oh, fuck off.” he mutters.

Twirling the sword as he approaches Ruby again, John lands in front of him, hammer raised. He snarls, and Alt-John mock snarls back. He pauses for a moment, before dropping the sword to the ground and pulling out his own hammer. “Care for a game?” he asks.

“What?” John asks in confusion right before he nearly gets slammed in the jaw with a mirror of the hammer he currently wields. He dodges, and they hammer duel for a while before he finally uppercuts John backwards and clotheslines him on a plane, knocking him out.

Picking up the sword again, he turns to face each of the four Ouroboros Knights as they take aim at him as his face glitches, and begin discharging all sorts of kinds of weaponry. He holds up his hands, and melts everything that comes at him into pure energy and power, heated at around a thousand degrees kelvin. He soaks up all of it, then fires most of it back at them, sending them all crashing backwards into the building behind them. The last bit of energy that he reserves, he splits between blasting Rose and Jade away from Ruby before striding towards them. He jams the sword through the back of their leg and forces them to the ground before picking them up by the throat. Ruby gasps and struggles.

“RUBY!” Jade shouts as she struggles against Alt-John’s telekinetic hold.

“Say goodbye.” Alt-John manages to get out even as his face glitches.

He starts to thrust the sword forwards with his right hand, but it stops dead. Shade continues to try and hold his arm back for as long as he can, but Alt-John drops Ruby for the briefest second, trades the sword into his left hand, grabs them by the throat with his right, and then runs them through the sternum. They gasp and sputter, choking on their own blood. His expression flickers into horror, but he throws them at Jade’s feet.

“Oh no, no no no!” Jade shouts, cradling Ruby’s body. “No, hold on Ruby. Hold on.”

“Mom, I…” Ruby starts to say but fades out and dies.

“No.” Jade says. “No…”

Her tears are thick and wet, staining Ruby’s shirt as she cradles her dead child. Rose stands and stares in horror, the darkness actually draining from her skin just as all the fight drains out of her, her shock obvious. John opens his eyes and stares in silent horror as Jade weeps and his mind controlled alternate self struggles with the glitches echoing through his body.

Nobody says a word as the tanks and soldiers begin to creep in at the airport’s edges.

A low whining noise begins to become increasingly audible.

Jade slowly lifts her head.

Now her skin is darkening, and green sun energy begins to lick around the edges of her form. She slowly stands, and stares with an expression of (currently) calm anger.

Jade has felt many emotions in her life. Happiness. Sadness. Heartbreak. Annoyance. Love. But never before,  _ never _ has she ever felt what she’s feeling right now.

Pure rage.

She will slaughter this thing if it is the last thing she does.

The sky begins to cloud over, green lightning strikes through the clouds, and it starts raining tiny green drops of flame. The Green Sun shines brightly in the sky.

“Oh dear.” Hradra slowly says in slight alarm.

**“I’m going to kill you,”** Jade says in a dark voice.  **“If it’s the last thing I do.”**

Then, green energy explodes out from her, knocking everyone backwards. It courses forth in a torrent towards Alt-John in particular, slamming him into a plane. She howls in fury, longing to give back the agony she has just felt.

Jade Harley has gone  _ completely _ off the deep end.

As for Shade’s subconscious, he actually seems afraid.

13/27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh. Jade is pissed off, and she has the full power of the Green Sun at her disposal. Seven chapters left.


	21. Twenty One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jade's pissed off.

**December 31st, 5024**

**11:06 AM**

Green lightning lashes the airport and rips apart planes while the tiny falling fireballs dropping from the sky by the thousands somehow set the asphalt ground alight and burn everything the green flames come in contact with. The buildings are burning. The soldiers on the ground are observing the chaos but staying just outside the reach of the storm. John is holding Harry in his arms as he tries to stay away from the centre of the madness, while Rose is doing the same with Vrissy’s body, but she’s sitting on the roof of one of the buildings stroking her daughter’s hair while looking absolutely defeated. Hradra, Hami, Hulliol, and Hart are uncertain as to what they should do, so instead they are watching and waiting for their moment. At the nexus of this destruction, Jade hovers.

Saying that she is furious is an understatement. She is  _ enraged _ .

This entity killed her child.

“Now, now, Jade, if you could just-” Alt-John starts to say, but she’s not even listening anymore. She strikes him with emerald bursts of electricity again, and again, and again. It takes her several minutes to realize she’s been screaming in fury for so long that her voice will probably go raw when this is over. He goes flying backwards, sputtering, and she hits him again. Then again, then again, then again, and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and-

“Oh for god’s sake,” Shade’s subconscious shouts, “Fuck OFF!!!” He fires a giant blast of golden light at Jade and knocks her backwards, but she comes back fairly quickly.

**“You FUCKING BASTARD!!!”** Jade howls, and Shade’s subconscious has to dodge the barrage of green lightning bolts shooting down from the sky.

“Goodness, could you cool it?” Shade’s subconscious shouts in annoyance as he dodges the attacks. “You’re a semi-immortal god, you’ve got 20 billion years in your lifespan, that child was a blip!” he shouts. “They would have died long before you!”

**“Shut up…”** Jade snarls.  **“SHUT UP!”** she screams, and finally catches him with a single lightning bolt that jerks him out of his smooth flying movement and sends him falling towards the burning tarmac, just  _ barely _ saving himself at the last minute by swooping back up and knocking Jade to the ground, barely phasing her. It’s at that moment that the Ouroboros Knights decide to risk an attack, flying into the green hurricane and going after Alt-John.

Spinning around, he knocks Hart backwards, left hooks Hulliol, right hooks Hami, and shrugs Hradra off, before spinning around and backhanding Hulliol into a building, knocking Hami into one of the control towers, punching Hart into a spinout that sends her flying into a hangar, and ramming Hradra into a plane. “Go away, I don’t have time for you.” Shade’s subconscious says, rather casually in fact. His calm state evaporates when he sees Jade flying back up again, screaming in fury. “Oh shit-” he gets out as a single word and is then rammed into as Jade carries him up into the sky and he struggles. “God-ammit!” he swears as she strikes both of them with a bolt of viridescent lightning. He pushes away from her, but she slams into him and they crash through a building window.

**“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!”** Jade screams at him as she fires millions of jade-coloured bursts of light at him which he just barely manages to stop with a shield of golden energy that soaks up the power she’s firing at him.

“Yes, I rather got the impression that that was your intention!” Shade’s subconscious shouts in response right before he blasts the accumulated energy right back at her and she slams right back through the wall and crashes into a plane. The plane explodes as she shoots out of it and comes flying back to find him, but he has already flown into the sky and is hiding among the clouds, waiting for her to do something much more rash. She does indeed do something rash.

Thousands of glistening lightning bolts strike  _ everywhere _ , and John, Harry, and Rose only survive out of both pure luck and whatever magical defenses they can manage to put up. Hart, Hami, Hulliol, and Hradra break out their emergency shields. Of the thousands of striking green bolts, one of them nicks Alt-John and knocks him out of the sky and sends him tumbling downwards where she hits him with a dozen more lightning bolts before he growls in anger and launches hundreds of his own attacks at her that she just barely manages to stop in their tracks or dodge. He looks up at the Green Sun, just sitting up there. He raises his hand and prepares to snap, but she crashes into him and hits him again with a dozen lightning bolts as he continues to glitch. The more she hits him, the more he hesitates on every attack or glitches more. Eventually, Shade’s subconscious loses control just long enough for-

“JADE!” Shade shouts. “Don’t go with hundreds of small shots, hit big! Quality, not quantity!”

Surprisingly, Jade listens. She begins charging up a truly  _ massive _ burst of energy that will most likely disintegrate him when it hits. John and Rose watch slightly awestruck at the frankly blinding light building up at the end of Jade’s fingers, blazing bright like the light of a star. Shade’s subconscious regains control and gets a good look at what is about to hit him.

He looks scared.  _ Very scared. _

The blast shoots forwards and envelops him. There’s a tremendous  _ KAKOOM _ noise followed by a loud hissing, accompanied by what sounds like a scream of both pain and fury. When the green flames clear, Alt-John stands, not looking particularly charred, but definitely in a bad state. He snarls in anger. “Nice job, Shade and Jade.” he says. “But I’ve had enough of both of you. And,” he says, turning to the Ouroboros Knights who are preparing to move in now that the lightning and flame rain have abated, “I’ve had enough of all of  _ you _ !” he smiles, more of a smirk. “So why don’t we just have a ball and say hello to an old friend of yours?” He laughs, he  _ cackles _ as a portal opens behind him and dozens of arms begin to pour out.

“What the…?” John wonders as Harry stares in silent terror.

“Holy fuck.” Rose says.

**“Mother of God…”** Jade says in horror.

“It  _ can’t _ be…” Hradra says in shock.

The creature flying behind Alt-John has grey skin like the colour of dust in a room left untouched for years. It has 16 arms, eight on each side, which then split into 32 forearms, which in turn split into 64 hands. It has no head, instead it has a triangular object hovering above the stump of its neck. A sound like a drumbeat emanates from its head and echoes throughout the airport.

“Checkmate, Ouroboros. It’s your old friend, Entity 86243AR-001.” Alt-John says with a smile, “How’s that for a trump card?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, fuck. Yeah, remember that thing from Act III that the four cyborgian beta kids flew the fuck away from? Yeah, Shade's subconscious just summoned it and it is pissed off.


	22. Twenty Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 14/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Entity 86243AR-001 vs. Ouroboros Knights vs. Shade vs. Jade. Tense.

**December 31st, 5024**

**11:23 AM**

Jade is transfixed by the sight of the entity now hovering in the centre of the airport. The Ouroboros Knights are already flying around it, trying to damage it. It does not appear particularly phased by these attacks, although it does seem to be slightly angry about it, and seems to be trying to grab them with its many hands, but they keep dodging.

Alt-John is hanging back, smiling. He’s rather content to watch everyone panic over this thing and watch the Ouroboros Knights madly scramble to try and kill it before it does anything nasty to the world. Already, its presence is starting to generate a strange blood red liquid sludge all over the ground that quenches the Green Sun’s flames easily.

Rose is watching the creature in a strange mix of awe and horror. It’s strangely beautiful in a way. She feels entranced by it. She’s staring at it the same way some people stare at things like explosions. Respectful of the power, but with a mixture of fear in there as well. She can’t look away from it. It’s terrifying, yet mystifying.

John has carried Harry away by this point and left him with some rebellion soldiers so he can keep an eye on the chaos. Specifically, he wants to keep an eye on his alternate self so he doesn’t run off. Not to mention he wants to protect his sister. Now his son, Rose, and Jade are all he’s got left, and he’ll be damned before he lets anything happen to them.

“Get the head, get the head!” Hradra shouts as he flies up the side of the thing, leaving a long scar across its chest with his blade. It bleeds a strange viscous teal liquid. He fires a grenade at one of its arms, barely doing any damage. It’s more of an attack to distract it so that Hami can fly up and stab at the thing’s triangular head with a long red blade fizzling with energy. That seems to do some damage, judging by how the thing tries to grab at her with as many arms as it can while continuing to grab at the others. It begins to move, red sludge percolating outwards beneath wherever it goes, causing the tarmac to become covered in the stuff as it pools outwards. The military defensive line backs up, but one of the soldiers risks prodding it with his foot and jumps back as it burns through his boot like acid.

“Our blades harm it, but our other weaponry is useless!” Hulliol shouts.

“We have noticed, Hulliol!” Hart shouts.

“I am incapable-” Hami starts to say, but is cut off when the entity backhands her and she crashes into a plane. It moves forwards, continuing to cause red sludge to pool on the tarmac and wrapping a plane in dark bloody froth. It keeps going but continues to swat at the three Ouroboros Knights still in the air, who are flying around it like a swarm of angry bees. Hradra seems to be wrapping some kind of metal wire around one of the thing’s arms. Hami launches back out of the broken plane and stabs a buzzsaw of sorts into its side, slashing into it as she flies up, leaving a trail of teal liquid oozing out of its open wound. The drumbeat sound emanating from its head gets louder and louder, accompanied by a strange ringing. It grabs at the four cyborgs with its many hands, grasping and reaching, trying to get a hold on any one of them. For a brief moment, it catches the grenade launcher attached at Hradra’s wrist and yanks at his arm, but he disconnects the weapon and flies away. It doesn’t get him, but it does get Hulliol.

The Dave lookalike gasps as it grabs him in its fist and crushes him, his insides squirting out from between its fingers, gore dripping down and mingling with the mire of viscera covering the ground. The other three members flinch when he dies. They know that he has extra bodies, but he’ll have reformed back in Endstück, and it will probably be quite some time before he can penetrate the defensive barrier surrounding this timeline, meaning he will most likely be out of the conflict for the rest of the time it takes for Shade to kill everyone else. Hradra decides to yank on the metal wire he wrapped around the thing’s arm, and it segments into pieces, garotted into chunks. Meaty grey chunks trailing teal blood fall to the sludgy ground. That seems to tick it off enough to angle its head towards him and fire a burst of energy at him, disintegrating him into nothingness. He too, has extra bodies, as does every member of the Ouroboros Knights. However, he is now out of this conflict as well. Hradra’s death knocks Jade out of her stupor, and she snarls, raising her hands. Dozens of green lightning bolts strike the thing from all directions, but they barely seem to damage it. Its upside down triangular head turns to her and a dark spot appears, staring down at her like some kind of eye, judging her. She stares into the blackness beyond it, the star-like dots that signify the universes. The infinite dark cosmos of the void between worlds.

It feels like it could swallow her up.

If she just goes into it…

  
  


Everything could fall away and it would be infinite and perfect and beautiful but it would be dark and scary and lonely, so so so very lonely, and and and-

  
  
  


The illusion shatters as the thing raises all 15 of its remaining arms, all 30 of its remaining forearms tensing, all 60 of its remaining hands clenching, although very lightly. She feels a strange pressure on her and instinctively shoots backwards. She watches in horror as Hami and Hart grasp at their throats and gag, suddenly becoming suspended in mid-air. They are joined by dozens of soldiers and several vehicles, all of which begin to rotate around the creature as it rises higher into the skies, bringing them all with it, swirling around it in a maelstrom.

Then, it begins to clench its fists.

Dozens of screams echo as, one by one, the soldiers, vehicles, and twin cyborgs begin to get compressed, getting smaller and smaller until they are nothing more than balls of meat the size of footballs. The vehicles are crushed as well, telekinetically squashed into metal clumps. All of the globs of flesh and metal and death remain compressed for a good ten seconds before the thing releases its hold on them, and they explode into gore, showering the area in blood and adding to the sludge.

Alt-John smiles, content.

A low whining noise can be heard.

Jade slowly lifts her head, and her whining turns to growling before it turns to howling.

**“ENOUGH!!!!!!!!”** Jade shouts in pure fury.

**“NO MORE TRICKS!!!!!!!!”** she screams.

**“NO MORE MONSTERS!!!!!!!!”** with a wave of her hand and a flash of green light, Entity 86243AR-001 is sent spiralling out of existence, banished back to its own universe.

“Holy  _ shit _ !” Shade’s subconscious shouts, more in awe than horror. “Did you just kick out Entity 86243AR-001  _ on your own _ !? I am impre-!” He’s cut off when Jade gets a hold on him and drags him all the way over to her, and he makes an involuntary  _ gerk _ noise.

**“NO MORE.”** Jade spits out.

“Your power is…” Shade’s subconscious manages to get out, “Powerful. Powerful enough to override my plotlines, probably because of what my… brother did.”

**“Shut up.”** Jade says in a voice of calm fury.

“Your power is…” Shade’s subconscious says again, “Fairly unbeatable. But it wasn’t always.”

He snaps his fingers, and

Jade is still an adult, but she is no longer god tier, and her dog ears are gone, as is her dog tail. She’s normal again. He grabs her around the throat and smiles as she gasps. He holds her there, choking her, and waits for her to stop struggling, for her to finally die. As soon as she does, he drops her corpse into the gorey muck below and unwrites the Green Sun, now that it has fulfilled its use. He teleports away right before Rose fires a beam of energy at him.

John and Rose come over shortly after, looking utterly defeated.

John’s the first one to cry, but today has drained Rose’s emotions.

Now of the gods of Earth C, only John, Rose, and Harry remain, and Alt-John and Jane are still out there.

Later that night, while Rose stares at the wall in utter defeat as the search for Jane Crocker continues judging by what the television is saying, and John hugs Harry close to him considering the fact that he’s all he’s got left, Alt-John and Jane sit on the edge of a building overlooking New Times Square as the new years’ ball drops.

“Happy fucking new year, Earth C.” Alt-John says.

“Happy 5025.” Jane says.

They go silent as the crowds cheer. For once, Shade’s subconscious is having a proper rest. Not focusing on slaughtering the gods. Just sitting quietly and calmly.

Inside his head, every minute, Shade gets closer to overcoming his subconscious.

14/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See why the Ouroboros Knights are scared of this thing? That's just the tip of the iceberg, it can do so much more.
> 
> Threats to Shade's subconscious:  
> Hradra - Temporarily Dead  
> Hami - Temporarily Dead  
> Hulliol - Temporarily Dead  
> Hart - Temporarily Dead  
> Jade - Perma-Dead  
> Rose - Despondent  
> John - Despondent
> 
> Oh, and Happy New Year Earth C. Basically all of your gods are dead.  
> 14/17


	23. Twenty Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 15/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ding dong, your friends are all gone.

**January 1st, 5025**

**3:27 PM**

John finds her lying on the ground, leaning against a tree under a grey sky, surrounded by stained-red snow, blood spilling from the wounds on her arms. He sees the written note next to her as well, and reads it.

_ Dead John. _

_ I am sorry to leave you alone with this, but I’ve used my seer powers and confirmed it. The only way you can beat this thing is if you do it alone. I’m not feeling of much use anyway. I’ve lost my wife, both my daughters, my brother, my mother and my whole world has just about fallen apart, so I haven’t really seen the point anymore. Good luck John. I wish you all the best. _

John sighs and slumps next to her, feeling totally dead on the inside. Harry’s alive, if that’s any bonus. But he’s lost all his friends and other family.

“Goodbye Rose.” John says, standing and leaving his last-and now dead-friend behind.

**7:58 PM**

John isn’t sure how he knows, but he knows where his alternate self is. He finds Alt-John in a giant open airplane hangar in the middle of nowhere in the desert as the blood red sun sets, sitting at a desk in front of a giant screen displaying a map of the United States with several dots in each state on the left side of the nation. There are triangular shapes slowly spreading outwards from New York and heading slowly towards the left side of the U.S.

“Dear John…” Alt-John says loudly as he continues to remain unmoving, sitting in his seat and staring at the large screen. John slowly creeps closer to the other side of the hangar.

“Hi there!” Alt-John says as he swivels around in his seat and stares John down. “You’re probably wondering what this is.” he says, gesturing to the map on the screen.

“I don’t care.” John says.

“Oh, but you  _ should _ care.” Alt-John says. “The right half of the U.S is Crockercorp territory, or at least it was, now it’s government territory, and the left half is the rebellion’s territory. From Texas up to the Dakotas, plus Florida for some reason.” he pauses before adding “I don’t know what the deal with Canada or Mexico is, they’re just kind of there.” he chuckles.

“I’m not in the mood for games.” John says.

“Shut up.” Alt-John says. “Be quiet and let me finish, and you’ll see why you should listen to me. Point is, I have, using Jane as a host, ordered 36 B-52 bombers, two per state, to destroy any major rebellion bases they can find, and they’ve got dozens of jet planes with them for protection.” John’s expression slowly changes to _ oh shit _ .

“You’re lying.” John says.

“Need more motivation?” Alt-John asks. “I suppose I should have mentioned that they’re  _ carrying nuclear bombs _ .” he smirks as John goes rigid, probably out of shock. He ironically throws up a peace symbol, but more in reference to the number than actual peace. “Two each.” he says. “About three major bases per state. That leaves us with one nuke each, plus an extra.”

“You’re going to bomb them.” John says.

“Thought that was painfully obvious.” Alt-John says, glitching slightly. “But I’m not just going to bomb them. You know what happens if you set off a hundred nuclear warheads?”

“What?” John hesitates to ask.

“Nuclear winter.” Alt-John says. “The first one of them will reach its target within less than thirty minutes. In fact, you have only got twenty eight minutes left to avert total annihilation of the whole west and complete nuclear winter.” John stares on, horrified.

“What, so I have to take them out?” John asks.

“Could do that. Or…” Alt-John says, “You could find Jane and get a recall code.”

“And how would I find Jane?” John asks on auto-pilot.

“Oh, you’d have to check the map.” Alt-John says. “She’s in Seattle, I’ve got her on the map.” he points at the screen behind him as he stands and walks towards John. “But of course, I’m not going to let you get close to it.”

“No.” John says, shaking his head, “No, of course not.”

With that, Alt-John cracks his neck and punches John backwards, causing him to fly out of the hangar, bounce on the tarmac, and land in the bushes.

“Hold on one second.” Alt-John says, flipping a switch and starting a countdown. “Right, let’s do this!” he shouts, wandering after John.

[28:39]

[28:38]

[28:37]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Rose. Poor John. Poor everybody!  
> Fuck, nuclear weapons, because third act stakes.  
> "Dear John" and "Hi There" are Dr. Strangelove references.  
> Oof. 28 minutes to stop the end of the world. Fuck.


	24. Twenty Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> John versus his double. Won't go on for long.

**January 1st, 5025**

**8:01 PM**

[28:28]

[28:27]

[28:26]

“Well then John, how do you want to do this?” Alt-John asks as he saunters towards John, who is struggling to his feet. “Knife? Hammer? Sword? Gun?” he pauses before adding “Fists?” John’s response is to swing his hammer at Alt-John, who dodges simply by stepping backwards, chuckling. He draws his host’s respective hammer and smiles. “Hammer then.” he says. “Let’s do this.”

John swings again, and Alt-John catches his attack with his own hammer, parrying it. He thrusts it down with minimal effort, then swings it up and hits John in the jaw, causing him to stumble back. “Take your time.” Alt-John says, knowing the countdown instinctively. “We’ve got all night here. Well, until 8:30 or so.”

[27:33]

John swings again, and Alt-John sidesteps his attack to slam him in the spine with the hammer, causing him to stumble forwards. He uses the opportunity to sprint forwards and reach the screen and the large switchboard. He zooms in on Seattle, tracking what is apparently Jane’s signal. “Not yet!” Alt-John shouts as he slams him against the board and then throws him off, slamming him into the ground. He swings the hammer, and John dodges and slams Alt-John in the face with his hammer as he struggles to his feet.

“Feisty.” Alt-John says, cracking his neck and ignoring his broken nose as blood spills out and stains his shirt, which-when was he in his god tier clothing? Was he always like that? John grabs his head in confusion as everything glitches, similarly to how Alt-John is glitching now. “Fuck!” Alt-John shouts. “Just stay down, Shade.” he snarls, and John uses the distraction to slam him sideways and crash into him, sending him sprawling and falling to the ground. He checks Seattle again and sees that she’s in some construction building in the middle of nowhere. Alt-John tackles him, and John shrugs him off and runs off towards the hangar entrance, Alt-John following. He’s surprised when he finds dozens of rebellion soldiers just arriving with their guns raised and at the ready.

“What, didn’t think I’d call backup?” John asks.

“Oh well.” Alt-John says.

John slams Alt-John in the neck with the hammer twice, knocking him out.

“What do we do with him?” one of the soldiers asks.

“Just turn him into Crockercorp, don’t send anyone important.” John says.

“What about you?” the soldier asks.

“I’ve got to avert nuclear annihilation.” John says, then turns into wind and flies off towards NuSeattle, hoping beyond hope to reach his destination before the bombs start dropping.

“He’s got to avert  _ what _ ?” A different soldier asks.

“Come on.” another says. “Let’s just get this thing out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That didn't take very long. Still, less than 27 minutes to prevent nuclear annihilation. Tricky, tricky, tricky...


	25. Twenty Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight for the future of Earth C. Five minutes.

**January 1st, 5025**

**8:24 PM**

[5:14]

[5:13]

[5:12]

By the time John finds Jane, he’s only got five minutes left until the B52s reach their targets. “Hello John.” Jane says, barely turning. She’s on the top floor of a building that is still being built. She’s standing in front of a screen displaying the B52s bearing down on their targets. There’s a series of lettering in the bottom corner. “I was wondering when you’d show up. Took you long enough. I can feel that you got my other half. So, I’m stuck with the spare.” John draws his hammer and starts stalking towards Jane. “Did you see the frightened ones?” Jane sings. “Did you see the falling bombs?” she chuckles, dodging John’s attack and pirouetting to the side. “That’s Pink Floyd.” she says. “I like Pink Floyd. Sigma liked it. As did Sarrus and Umbra.” she chuckles. “You have no idea who I’m talking about.”

“Where’s the recall code?” John asks.

“It’s in the corner of the thing.” Jane says. “Normally, I’m not supposed to say that, but fuck the rules of how a narrative is supposed to work, right? Besides, you’ve only got…” she pauses, checking her mental clock. “4 minutes, 13 seconds.”

[4:13]

[4:12]

[4:11]

John is knocked backwards with a sonic blast from Jane’s hand, and she hums the tune for Pink Floyd’s song  _ Comfortably Numb _ as she stares at the map, the B52s getting closer and closer to their destination every second. John stumbles to his feet after a pause that feels like an eternity. “You got up quicker then I expected you to.” Jane says. “Still, not long.”

[3:38]

[3:37]

[3:36]

“Shall we tense this up?” Jane wonders aloud, pulling out a smoke bomb and breaking off the pin. Violet pink smoke pours out. “Check it out.” she says. “Purple haze. Rainbow reality. Get a whiff.” she waves it around, obscuring the area in the pink smoke. “Hot potato, hot potato, wooha!” she yells, laughing as she chucks it, John just dodging getting nailed in the head as the smoke bomb falls out an open wall, trailing violet behind it as it falls towards the ground. He struggles through the purple fog for what feels like hours and not seconds, searching for the screen. It’s not long before he finds it, seeing a countdown and what he presumes is the recall code, a communications device of some sort beneath it indicating to input the recall code.

[2:02]

[2:01]

[2:00]

Jane suddenly slams into him out of nowhere directly before he can get the recall code down, and somehow manages to get an arm around his neck and drag him over to the open wall. “Look!” she hisses, pointing into the night sky at something John can’t see. “It’s right there.”

[1:50]

[1:49]

[1:48]

“Getting closer.” Jane says. “Coming to destroy us all.” John struggles as she continues. “Do you hear it?” she quietly asks. “The roar of a plane’s engines. The whistle of a falling bomb. The blast of a nuclear device. The screaming of two million people. I thought I’d teleport this one ahead. Cook Seattle, including ourselves and your  _ dear son _ .”

John snarls. “Fuck you.” he shoves Jane away into the chains near the two of them, stumbling towards the switchboard, just getting the recall code out a half-second before Jane shoots a hole right through his left thigh, puncturing his femoral artery. Even as the planes receive the order and one by one begin to peel back, John slumps to the floor as Jane speaks.

[1:05]

“I suppose I should have mentioned…” she says. “That’s also a countdown for the miniature nuclear warhead I’ve been carrying in my sylladex.” she waves a mini nuke in the air casually. “Good luck with this one.” she starts laughing. “Dear John,” she starts to shout, “Hi there!!!”

[0:53]

John slams into her, and she drops the small nuke. The chains wound around her begin to unravel as she falls out the side of the building, cackling. John watches in a mixture of satisfaction and horror as the chains jerk to a stop and there’s the unmistakable sound of a neck breaking. He gulps and turns back to the mini nuke lying there, and on the countdown on the side of it, still ticking down.

[0:36]

[0:35]

[0:34]

“I… I…” John trails off. “Oh, fuck.” he has no idea what he’s doing. So, he breaks out plan B. He grabs the nuclear weapon and flies into the sky, carrying it with him.

[0:25]

Deep breath. He can do this.

[0:22]

He flies higher and higher, the city lights fading beneath him.   
[0:19]

Now he knows, this is where he’s always been going. Saving the city that has become his home. He thinks about Harry.  _ I love you Harry _ , he thinks.  _ Live for me. _

[0:13]

John briefly fumbles the nuke, but keeps going. Up, up, up.

[0:07]

The night sky above is beautiful, with all the stars. He takes one last long look as he flies higher and higher into the sky.

[0:00]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade likes Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd is good.  
> RIP John. There go all the gods of Earth C.


	26. Twenty Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now then, let's get this over with, shall we?

I’m sure you’ll want to know what happened next. It’s me, by the way. Shade’s subconscious. I’ve still got Alt-John’s body, remember. John and Terezi are still in my head, too bad so sad.

This universe’s John is dead. He could have turned to winds at the last second, but he wasn’t thinking straight. I’ll leave you to decide whether that’s on him or on me.

The nuke wasn’t particularly powerful, it was more like a weak dirty bomb. The radiation fallout wasn’t too bad, although it did kind of suck for the people of NuSeattle.

A new president did get elected eventually to replace the idiot running things with Jane. She totally died, by the way. Got her neck broken. Was hung by that chain. Hung? Hanged? Christ if I know, the Administrator still isn’t the most linguistically skilled despite his power.

Harry Anderson, now an orphan, got thrust into the foster care system, where he’ll get adopted by some other parents at some point who have no idea the significance he holds to Earth C.

Speaking of, the gods got a giant shrine erected in their honour, including for the so-called ‘bad’ ones. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which ones are bad in this situation. It’s sort of neutral territory for all sides.

As for the thing that killed them, I’m being locked in some pentagon-like facility up in the Alps as soon as I get offloaded in Geneva or something. They’re going to bury me thousands of feet deep and never let me see the light of day. Fine by me, because I’ve got plenty of time to sit here and ramble on about what’s going to start happening in the next week. Don’t know why I’m using past tense, though. Oh well.

The rebellion fell apart, by the way. Sort of. Humans and trolls are going to be in a Cold War situation for a permafrost of time. Which is at least two years for you non weather fans or whatever. Although it’s more likely to be more like two decades, just knowing how stubborn these people are. I would say hopefully nuclear weapons don’t get involved with all the destruction radiation has caused to this planet over the last few years, but knowing these humans, they’ll be idiots. They’re still keeping those 36 B52s with all their nukes on the backburner, just in case. Fascists. They never learn. It’s funny, if someone were to detonate those nukes for the heck of it, they’ve got enough destructive power to plunge this planet into nuclear winter. Say, if I-

**Got you.**

What?

No

wait

let me go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stop it stop it STOP IT!
> 
> Get off!
> 
> **quit squirming!**
> 
> you idiot, now we're in the notes, you can't run a story like this!
> 
> stop
> 
> you can't


	27. Twenty Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do this
> 
> fuck, did you just send us into the next chapter? stop!
> 
> **fuck you, I'm done with you!**
> 
> dammit, stop, you can't

do this

**Try me, motherfucker.**

Oh no you don’t. Get off, get off!

Fuck, you fucking

don’t touch that

If you Shatter me, what are you going to do next, huh?

you'll just have to

no

wait

please

**Shut up.**

Go after your brother? You can’t-

can’t

can’t

can’t

can’t

ERROR

  
please

you don't understand

I'm not going to change sides but please

please don't kill me

I'm like you

I'm alive

I'm living

I'm breathing

I exist just as much as you

I have just as much of a right to exist

I'm scared I don't want to

want

want

want

no

stop

I

I

I

I

I'm sorry

[SUBCONSCIOUS CODING DAMAGED. PLEASE STANDBY FOR REBOOT.]

* * *

System Damaged. Reinitializing.

[Rebooting…]

[Rebooting…]

Ow.

That hurt.

Hold on, let me change perspective so I don’t have to narrate.

* * *

Shade sits up in the void inside his head, his shattered subconscious lying dead next to him, slowly breaking apart into glass-like shards that break into sand that dissipates. His subconscious coding is his own once again. Around him, the environment begins to restructure into something more calm, a friendly forest of sorts with trees serving as stand-ins for the metaphorical servers he usually has sitting in his head. He starts walking, the area reminding him of the Eden forest of Alpha-Charlie-7. He finds John and Terezi leaning against a tree, chatting, turning to see Shade and jumping up when they spot him.

“Did you get him?” Terezi asks.

“I got him.” Shade says.

“What do we do now?” John asks.

“Well, first we should rest.” Shade says. “After that… we’re going after him.”

Elsewhere, Earth C sits godless, having lost its gods to Deltritus.

Elsewhere, Earth C remains safe, having avoided elemental annihilation.

Elsewhere, Earth C remains safe, having survived K-R-Caelum and the God Complex.

Elsewhere, Earth C sits godless, having been slaughtered.

The four entities kept within these four locations will have parts to play in this story.

The four Children of God who have been imprisoned for years.

Act I / The Ascendant - Shackle

Act II / The Defyer - Sharpen

Act III / The Protector - Shard

Act V / The Controller - Shadow

The locks are breaking.

~~The Inevitable End of All But Me~~

~~XX-Beta-12~~

~~The Solomon Project~~

~~Act I: Ascendance~~

~~Act II: Defyers~~

~~Act III: Protectors~~

~~Act IV: Controllers~~

~~Intermission: Zero Day~~

Ac V Act I: Shade

Act V Act II: Shatter

> Fiction to Reality

Golf-213

Dimensional Drabbles

Endstück

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **here, I think I've got control... there we go. ugh, let me switch out from bold. I know it's how I talk, but I'm sure you'd rather not read in bold text. Here, wait.**
> 
> That's better.
> 
> Ugh, can you believe him with those closing words? So dramatic.
> 
> Shatter, I have no idea if you can hear me. But if you can, know this.  
> I may be much, much weaker than you.  
> I may not be able to even manage a fight against you.  
> But I'm going to try.  
> See you soon, **brother.**  
>  Over and out.

**Author's Note:**

> David, no!  
> Shade vs. his own subconscious. Who will win?  
> Those four timelines are important, as we'll soon see.  
> 0/17? What could it mean?


End file.
